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Silverstone Friday Notebook

John Dagys’ Friday notebook from Silverstone…

Photo: Vision Sport Agency/SRO

Photo: Vision Sport Agency/SRO

***The entry list for this weekend’s Blancpain Endurance Series round at Silverstone has been increased to 62 cars, following the addition of a second Sport Garage Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 for Christophe Hamon, Tony Samon and Melgrati Ruggero.

***With his late call-up to fill in for Carlos Huertas at the Indianapolis 500, Tristan Vautier will not be present at Silverstone. As a result, Ludovic Badey will join Maurice Ricc in the AKKA-ASP Ferrari.

***MRS GT Racing could expand into a two-car operation before the end of the season. The German squad is the only team currently campaigning a Nissan GT-R GT3 NISMO in the Blancpain Sprint Series.

***The addition of Oliver Webb to the No. 54 Attempto Racing McLaren 650S GT3 has seen the car having been promoted to the Pro Cup, boosting the class to a 26-car entry.

***Claudia Hurtgen will join Max Sandritter and Dominik Baumann at the wheel of the BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3. The German squad, fresh off the Nürburgring 24, makes its series return this weekend.

***GT Russian Team has reshuffled its driver lineup, with Christophe Bouchut returning to the No. 70 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 with Alexey Karachev and Karim Al Azhari. Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasiliev and Dennis Waszek are set to pilot the No. 71 entry.

***There are a number of new and revised liveries, including the No. 54 Attempto McLaren now in the team’s traditional blue color, and the No. 22 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Nissan running an all-black livery, identical to the design sported at the Nürburgring.

***Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor got their first taste of OAK Racing’s Ligier JS P2 Honda during a test at Spa earlier this week, prior to an additional night session of the LMP2 contender at Magny-Cours. The Blancpain Endurance Series rivals will share the wheel of the No. 34 entry with Chris Cumming at Le Mans next month.

***The No. 1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi of Vanthoor and Robin Frijns will have a special livery for next month’s Blancpain Sprint Series round at Zolder, selected via a competition on GrafiWrap’s Web site.

***While all of the Blancpain Endurance Series teams are utilizing the old pits this weekend, the Wing is still in use, as a car auction is being held, which includes a Dodge Viper Competition Coupe that previously ran in British GT and Supercar Challenge.

Laurent Mercier contributed to this report

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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