CMR Confirms Bentley Program; Gounon, Morris to Drive

Photo: Bentley

Classic and Modern Racing will return to GT3 competition this year with a pair of Bentley Continental GT3s in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and factory drivers Jules Gounon and Seb Morris among its lineup.

The French team has long been linked to a GT World Challenge Europe program and has been in discussions with a number of manufacturers, including a potential Honda program that first surfaced during the Total 24 Hours of Spa.

Since then, it later became more likely that CMR would opt for Bentley machinery, aiding an expansion of the British manufacturer’s customer base for 2020. 

The team will field two cars for the full ten-event schedule, comprising both Endurance and Sprint races.

Bentley factory driver Seb Morris will compete in the Endurance Cup while Gounon will contest the Sprint Cup, and team regular Pierre-Alexandre Jean will race in both Cups. 

The remainder of the team’s lineup is yet to be set.

“We announced in the middle of last year that our intention was to step up to GT3 and since then we have had lengthy discussions with several manufacturers,” commented team principal Charly Bourachot.

“The Bentley brand is steeped in more than 100 years of heritage, which is important to us, and customer racing is where its motorsport passion began.

“The Continental GT3 is a very impressive car that has been successful around the world in the hands of Bentley customer teams and we aim to do the same.”

Bentley will now have five customer-run Continental GT3s on the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup grid this year, with two Pro cars from K-PAX, CMR’s two entries and a single Silver Cup entry run by Team Parker Racing for Bentley Motorsport Academy drivers.

“Our intention for 2020 was to grow our customer racing program in a careful and manageable way, and I believe we have done just that by working with teams who have a proven track record and the ability to perform with professionalism at the highest level of GT3 racing,” added Bentley Motorsport director Paul Williams.

“After meeting with CMR, we knew that there were many synergies between our brands and were pleased to welcome them into the Bentley family.”

Jake Kilshaw

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