Abril, Lind to Drive Pro-Class JP Motorsport McLaren

Former Mercedes-AMG driver Vincent Abril and British GT champion Dennis Lind have joined JP Motorsport for the Polish team’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup bid with a Pro-class McLaren 720S GT3.

JP Motorsport announced on Wednesday that Abril and Lind will team up with the previously-confirmed Christian Klien in one of two entries for the Polish squad.

It declared its intentions to run full-season Endurance Cup campaigns with a pair of McLarens last month.

Both Abril and Lind are set for their first drives in McLaren machinery, after piloting Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos and Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evos respectively last year.

Abril drove for Haupt Racing Team in the DTM and GTWC Europe Endurance Cup, while Lind enjoyed a title-winning season with Leo Machitski and Barwell Motorsport after being dropped from Lamborghini’s factory driver roster at the end of 2020.

The 2015 GTWC Europe Sprint Cup champion and former Bentley factory driver announced his departure from Mercedes-AMG last week after three years of racing the German manufacturer’s GT3 cars.

“I am very excited about this new project,” said Abril.

“When I was contacted the first time, I really was jailed by the ideas and perception of the team to go forward and to win.

“I like to work with quality people I know from GT racing and obviously we have a very strong lineup together with Christian and Dennis. I am looking forward to developing this great project to see its progress over the years.”

Lind is set to embark on his first Endurance Cup campaign since 2020 with Orange 1 FFF Racing Team, although the Dane also made a couple of one-off appearances in Audis this year.

He finished fourth at the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa alongside Nico Mueller and Robin Frijns, before joining Sainteloc Racing for an Invitational entry with the new Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II at the Barcelona season finale.

“I am super excited to take on this new challenge after being with Lamborghini for about five years,” said Lind.

“It is very welcomed to me. I am really looking forward to share the McLaren 720S GT3 with two amazing drivers, that’s for sure.

“I will get pushed to my limits. But working with a group of lovely people will be great. Despite it is not a huge team, I am sure we will be able to fight the big guys as well.”

The other JP Motorsport McLaren is set to compete in either Pro-Am or Silver Cup, depending on the outcome of discussions between the team and SRO Motorsports Group.

Team principal Patryk Krupinski will co-drive with Maciej Blazek and 17-year-old karting graduate and Joel Mesch.

JP Motorsport is also expected to run two McLarens in GTWC Europe Sprint Cup, but has not announced the driver lineups for those entries.

“We [have] set up a very strong Pro driver lineup with Dennis Lind and Vincent Abril. Both have a lot of experience in GT3 racing and especially in GT World Challenge, fighting for championships there and even [winning] them,” said Klien, who forms part of the JP Motorsport management structure.

“It is a great extra step for JP Motorsport, not just being strongly constellated in its third year but also fighting for front positions with a Pro lineup in the GT World Challenge, which is the highest of all GT3 racing series worldwide in my eyes.

“Furthermore, a second car will be fielded, generating more data for development. Therefore, the team structure was changed and improved to ensure the team is prepared even better and working even more professionally in the future.

“We are already looking forward to the new challenges.”