Silverstone Friday Notebook

***HTP Motorsport is pulling double-duty this weekend, with the Blancpain Endurance Series round at Silverstone as well as the ADAC GT Masters in action at the Lausitzring. With Maxi Buhk in Germany, none other than Bernd Schneider will take his place in the No. 84 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 with Harold Primat and Nico Verdonck. It marks Schneider’s first start with HTP since his victory with the team at the 24 Hours of Spa.

***Pierre Ehret will not take the wheel of the No. 458 GT Corse by Rinaldi Ferrari this weekend as originally scheduled, leaving the Gentlemen class Prancing Horse in the hands of Alexander Mattschull and Frank Schmikler.

***While running in the Blancpain Endurance Series and European Le Mans Series, Pro GT by Almeras is eyeing a move to GTE in 2015, continuing with Porsche. If the project gets the green light, the team would be present in the ELMS and 24 Hours of Le Mans.

***Nova Race will begin its partnership with JRM/Nissan in the Italian GT Championship before participating in other series, including the Blancpain Sprint Series and International GT Open. The driving pairing of Caccia/Bontempelli will share the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 next week at Monza.

***Winner of the first round of the year at Monza with Greg Demoustier and Alvaro Parente, Alex Premat arrived yesterday after a long 24-hour journey from Melbourne, via Singapore. The Australian-based Frenchman will again line up in the No. 98 ART GP McLaren.

***Two pit walks have been scheduled for this weekend for all spectators. The first will take place on Saturday from 12:25-12:40 p.m. local, with another one occurring Sunday from 1-1:20 p.m. local.

***the Lumirank leader light system will again be used for the TOTAL 24 Hours of Spa. Corrections have been made following some issues in the 2013 race.

***Following today’s announcement of its new factory LMP1 program, Nissan’s Andy Palmer and Nismo’s Shoichi Miyatani will be at Silverstone tomorrow in the Blancpain Endurance Series paddock.