Oman Racing Team are back on home soil this weekend for the latest round of the Blancpain Endurance Series.
Silverstone hosts round two of the season with the Wrotham based team targeting a strong top ten finish.
The number 44 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, piloted by Ahmad Al Harthy, Daniel Lloyd and Aston Martin works driver Jonny Adam faces imposing competition with over 60 GT cars entered for the second meeting of the season.
However, David Bartrum’s Motorbase-run squad has its sights firmly set on a strong points finish to get its 2015 campaign off the ground.
Speaking ahead of the weekend, Bartrum said: “We’re all very much looking forward to our home race this weekend. It’s always nice to race at home. With such an impressive field of 61 cars this weekend, it’s very important that we qualify well to be able show where we are with the Aston and our driver line up. With it being a British car on the British circuit, if anywhere; we need to do this at Silverstone.”
Despite showing fine form during the season’s opening round in Italy, Monza failed to deliver a notable result for the squad, but the Oman Racing Team is confident that local track knowledge will boost its chances of breaking into the highly competitive top ten.
He added: “Monza wasn’t the start to the season that we were hoping for. We lost time in the pit-stop unfortunately and we didn’t really get a chance to show our capabilities. We had the pace but we just got caught out so let’s just hope that with that many cars on the circuit we don’t get caught again.”
“Aston Martin historically seems to do very well at Silverstone. The track suits the car and that’s the key for us this weekend, to unlock that potential and get the full benefit of how good the Vantage is around there.
The weekend’s action gets underway with free practice sessions on Saturday ahead of qualifying at 9am UK time on Sunday morning. The second, three hour race of the season is scheduled to commence at 2.45pm local time with live coverage streamed on the official Blancpain Endurance Series website and additional coverage available on Motors TV from 6pm.
Giving his thoughts ahead of the weekend, Jonny Adam said: “I’m looking forward to this weekend at Silverstone as on paper the circuit will suit the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 very well with its strong aero characteristics.
“Monza wasn’t the result we wanted or deserved so everyone at Oman Racing and Motorbase are looking for a top result in front of a home crowd come Sunday. It’s nice to be racing at the UK round of Blancpain Endurance Series with a British team in a car built in the UK not far from Silverstone.”
Image courtesy of Dan Bathie