Fresh from recording a double podium at Snetterton in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship, TF Sport will traverse the English Channel to contest one-off rounds in the International GT Open and Blancpain Endurance Series at two of Europe’s most iconic racetracks, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and the Nürburgring.
The International GT Open has enjoyed a rapid expansion in its relatively short ten-year history, growing in success in terms of the quality of its entries, level of exposure and global reach with a philosophy that has attracted many of the world’s greatest teams and drivers, including TF Sport.
TF Sport is known for undertaking successful exploratory outings in high-profile GT racing categories and the Redhill-based outfit recorded a race win when it was selected to represent Aston Martin Racing (AMR) at the Silverstone event last season with AMR regular Darren Turner and current British GT driver Jody Fannin.
The team will make a welcome return to the GT Open at Belgium’s iconic and physically demanding Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (4-6 September), tackling the famous left-right-left of Eau Rouge and the flat-out Blanchimont with experienced GT drivers, Salih Yoluc and Euan Hankey, in one of the team’s powerful Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3s.
With a prolific career in single-seaters, amassing a number of race wins in Formula BMW, Somerset-born Hankey then made the switch to sportscar racing, competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, where he finished as the top rookie.
Joining Yoluc and Hankey behind the wheel of the Aston GT3 for the season-ending Blancpain Endurance Series’ iRacing GT500 (19-20 September) at Germany’s Nürburgring is 2007 British GT Champion, Bradley Ellis.
Starting his racing career in Karting in 1997, Ellis has shown race-winning prowess ever since, clinching a Cadet title in his maiden season, before making his car racing debut in Formula Renault Italia aged 16, before Hinckley, Leicestershire-based racer turning his hand to GTs.
Having made sporadic appearances in the British GT Championship since his title success, Ellis is an experienced racer behind the wheel of an array of highly powerful machinery and, with 40 teams and over 100 drivers expected to compete in the three-hour endurance event in Germany’s Eifel mountains, the length of the race and the unpredictable climate should make for an unforgettable Nürburgring debut for TF Sport.
TF Sport Director, Tom Ferrier, said: “We are really looking forward to returning to the International GT Open after the success we had last year at Silverstone. All the team is very excited to start our journey with Salih (Yoluc) and Euan (Hankey) and we hope it will lead to more events in the future and a lot of great results. Spa-Francorchamps is a great place to go to and we had good pace there in British GT, but we are under no illusion that it will be very hard, as we are up against some strong teams and driver pairings.”