McLaren, Callaway Lineups Confirmed for Suzuka 10H

McLaren customer team Garage 59 and Corvette squad Callaway Competition have firmed up their single-entry driver lineups for the Suzuka 10 Hours.

Ben Barnicoat, Andrew Watson and Come Ledogar will drive the No. 58 McLaren 650S GT3 in the penultimate round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

The trio, which usually competes in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, will be reunited after splitting into different cars for last month’s Total 24 Hours of Spa.

Barnicoat and Ledogar teamed up to drive the Pro-class Garage 59 McLaren with Olivier Pla at the Belgian endurance classic, while Watson was placed in the British outfit’s Am Cup entry.

Ledogar and Watson also took part in the IGTC season-opener at Bathurst in separate McLarens entered by YNA Autosport, while Barnicoat skipped that event.

All three drivers are set to make their Japanese racing debuts at the Suzuka round on August 24-26.

Callaway Announces All-Japanese Lineup

Additionally, Callaway Competition has confirmed its Suzuka entry in association with Japanese outfit Bingo Racing.

The No. 37 Corvette C7 GT3 R, which will race under the ‘Callaway Competition by Bingo Racing’ banner, will be piloted Shinji Takei, Yuta Kamimura and Yuichi Mikasa.

Amateur driver Takei is the owner of Bingo Sports, which runs a luxury car dealership in Tokyo.

Kamimura and Mikasa, meanwhile, are both products of the Japanese Formula 4 Championship and Porsche Carrera Cup Japan.

Bingo Racing conducted two separate tests with the Corvette at Callaway’s base in Germany over the summer, in preparation for its debut with the car.