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Pirelli GT4 America

Flying Lizard Announces McLaren GT4 for Vogel, Cooper

Flying Lizard to return to McLaren machinery with new SprintX entry for Vogel, Cooper…

Photos: Flying Lizard Motorsports

Flying Lizard Motorsports will field cars from two different brands in this year’s Pirelli GT4 America SprintX series following its confirmation of a McLaren entry on Monday.

The Sonoma-based team has announced that it will run a McLaren 570S GT4 for Erin Vogel and McLaren Automotive factory driver Michael Cooper.

This will complement the team’s previously-confirmed Aston Martin Vantage GT4 that will be driven by Robby Foley and Michael Dinan.

The switch to two British manufacturers marks a total departure from Flying Lizard’s 2019 SprintX program which focused on the Porsche 718 GT4 Cayman Clubsport.

Vogel, who guested for the team in a single-driver Sprint round at Sonoma last year, joins Flying Lizard for her first full season in the two-driver SprintX format.

Cooper, meanwhile, will balance duties in both SprintX and Sprint, where he will be competing for McLaren Automotive customer Blackdog Speed Shop.

“We are really looking forward to this upcoming season with Erin Vogel,” said program manager Darren Law.

“Erin has been racing and testing with us for a couple of seasons now and she has really progressed as a driver. She is fast, consistent, and very dedicated to improving her skills.

“As I have seen with several other drivers in our program, she has the potential and is at the right point in her development to step up to the SRO GT4 America series. She and Michael work well together and this series is the right place for her.”

Flying Lizard is familiar with McLaren machinery having previously worked on K-PAX Racing’s 650S GT3s in the series now called SRO GT World Challenge America.

The partnership took current McLaren Automotive works driver Alvaro Parente to the 2016 Sprint drivers’ title.

For 2020, Vogel and Cooper will contest the complete eight-round championship while Dinan and Foley will enter all events except Long Beach in their Aston Martin.

This is because Dinan has elected not to race on street courses in both SprintX and Sprint this year.

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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