This weekend sees the mighty Blancpain Endurance Series visit the UK for its annual trip to Silverstone where it will host a spectacular three-hour endurance event at the home of British motorsport. The premier European GT series is expected to bring 45 of the best GT3 cars in the world to the Towcester circuit and it promises to be an enticing prospect for local racer, Joe Osborne – part of the MP Motorsport-AMR team.
Last year the 25-year-old who lives in Olney (Buckinghamshire) and team-mates Mark Poole and Richard Abra impressed in the PRO-AM class with the Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, sealing a hard fought second place on home turf in the ultra-competitive category. That was a one-off event for the trio and this year sees Joe, Mark and Richard re-united for a full season campaign in the series, with support from Aston Martin Racing.
Joe commented: “While there are fewer cars on the grid compared to last season, the quality is high again, even more so in PRO-AM. We had a great run last year when we did the event as a one-off race. We went into it with our eyes wide open and came out very happy with a second place finish. It was that result that gave the team confidence to enter the series for a decent attempt at the championship this year.”
The Aston Martin racer continues, “We’re confident we’ll be at the sharp end this weekend; our pace should be good and as long as there are no mistakes from the team and the drivers, we should have a good weekend. Hopefully we’ll get some luck and at the end of the three hours be where it matters.”
Following a promising test last weekend at the French circuit, Paul Ricard, the former European GT4 Champion is all set to repeat his heroics from 2013 and is keen to go one step further this year, despite a wealth of more experienced competitors now featuring in the PRO-AM class.
With good weather in prospect and a big crowd likely to attend, Joe will be giving it his all in front of his home crowd, which will hopefully spur on the talented young racer who was recently awarded the prestigious ‘SuperStar’ title by the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) which singles out the hottest prospects in the sport.
Joe added: “It’s great to be racing at Silverstone, it’s one of my favourite circuits in the world and the home of BRDC; they’ve supported me throughout my career and I’m eternally grateful to them for their support and guidance. Silverstone is also my home race, so I always enjoy a good turn out from my friends and family here, it’s without doubt a race I want to win.”