Just under two weeks since he made an impressive debut at GT4 level in the Nurburgring Endurance Series, Kent racing driver Brett Lidsey is heading back to Germany for the second race of the 2021 season this coming Saturday, 1st May.
Finishing fifth in class during the championship curtain-raiser last time out, even though a mechanical problem cost Lidsey and team-mate Ivan Berets nine laps while their BMW M4 GT4 was repaired, the Sorg Rennsport pairing are eyeing much more in this weekend’s four-hour contest.
While track time was at a premium for Northfleet’s Lidsey on his GT4 debut, not least because budget restrictions mean he is unable to take part in any pre-event test days this year, he adapted to his new car seamlessly and was delighted with his performance during round one.
Once again this coming weekend, the 29-year-old will have to forego the Friday test sessions and instead head straight into qualifying on Saturday morning. While putting the No.180 Sorg duo at a disadvantage compared to their rivals, Lidsey’s confidence remains as high as ever.
“I really can’t wait to be back at the Nordschleife so soon and back in the car getting as many laps as possible under my belt”, said the Liftout, Dornack, GPL Projects Ltd and Certus Security supported driver, “Apart from the problem in round one with the auxiliary belt and broken crank pulley, we had a fantastic first weekend in the BMW M4 and I think we did a great job overall to be honest.
“To go into qualifying in a car I hadn’t driven before, especially a quicker and more rounded race car than the M240i I raced last year, and qualify P6 was good. In the race, after the repairs, we just got quicker and quicker and I was able to push harder with every lap. If we can have a trouble-free run, I’m confident we can challenge for a bigger result this weekend.”
Lidsey certainly enjoyed every second behind the wheel on his maiden outing in the ‘Avia’ liveried BMW M4 GT4 at the 24-kilometre Nurburgring-Nordschleife. Although set to embark on his second season in the Cup5 class in the same BMW M240i he raced in 2020, when the first race of the year was cancelled due to snow and round two became the new opening round, plans changed.
With a low entry of cars for Cup5 this season, Lidsey and Berets – striving for as much competition as possible – entered into negotiations with Sorg to make the step-up into the better subscribed and more competitive SP10 class for GT4 specification cars.
“We definitely made the right decision making the move up into GT4”, Lidsey added, “It’s a tough and challenging year for us with the budget, and missing testing each weekend is far from ideal, but we want to race at the best and highest level we can. I’m absolutely loving driving the M4 and can’t thank my sponsors enough for making it happen this year.”
As usual, qualifying for round two of the Nurburgring Endurance Series will get underway at 07.30 UK time on Saturday, 1st May. Race two of the 2021 season, the 62nd Eibach ADAC ACAS Cup, will get underway at 11.00 UK time