Barnicoat Joins Al Khalifa in 2 Seas McLaren

Photo: Drew Gibson

McLaren factory driver Ben Barnicoat will race alongside Isa Al Khalifa in one of 2 Seas Motorsport’s McLaren 720S GT3 entries in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup.

The newly-formed team confirmed the driver pairing on Wednesday but is yet to reveal drivers for its second McLaren in the European championship.

Having launched with a program in the Intelligent Money British GT Championship, 2 Seas’ plans to expand into Europe for its debut season were confirmed with its inclusion on the full-season entry list last month.

The Anglo-Bahraini team is co-owned by 20-year-old Al Khalifa and businessman Nick Cristofaro.

Al Khalifa’s prior racing experience includes a stint in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.

“It is great to now be able to confirm the second set of plans for 2 Seas Motorsport and the 2020 season with entry in to the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, and I am particularly pleased to have Ben Barnicoat joining the team for this part,” he said.

“Running as part of the leading European GT3 championship alongside the highly-competitive British GT Championship is a bold step and both will bring new and different challenges, especially for me as I keep pushing myself as a driver, but confidence is high and adding Ben to the team is a real bonus.

“His performance at the Bathurst 12 Hour was particularly impressive, and he brings a huge amount of knowledge of the 720S GT3 to the team which has already paid dividends during the pre-season testing program.

“Having him on the team will also be a huge help to my development as we progress through the season.”

2 Seas’ British GT entries will be driven by Al Khalifa, Dean Macdonald, Angus Fender and a final TBC driver.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.