Silverstone Open showcases the breadth of UK prototype racing
21st May 2021
On Saturday 29 May, the inaugural Silverstone Open will take place on the full Grand Prix circuit. The two 30 minute races will feature the Sports Prototype Cup’s centrepiece Revolution Trophy but will also feature a wide range of prototypes from other categories.
The grid is expected to feature over twenty drivers representing prototype manufacturers such as Duqueine, Ligier, Radical, Gunn, MCR, CTR as well as the Revolution A-One Trophy.
The Unlimited Open class features LMP3 entries from former European Le Mans Champion Johnny Mowlem, sharing a Duqueine with FIA World Endurance Championship driver Bonamy Grimes and Simon Evans’ Ligier. Challenging this trio will be former Caterham winner Graham Charman who will debut his newly-acquired Juno. The ingenuity of home-bred prototype developers will be highlighted by the self-developed CTR-Honda of Matthew and Richard Chamberlain and the rapid Jenvey-Gunn with Mike Jenvey at the wheel.
The Revolution Trophy entrants will be warming up for their season which includes races at Portimao and a showcase event as an official support race to the Formula 1 Heineken Gran Premio D’Italia 2021 at Monza on 10-12 September. British Olympian and former 24 Hours of Le Mans driver Sir Chris Hoy heads the line-up from 360 Racing.
The most successful team from the 2020 season, Breakell Racing, returns with three drivers. Richard Wells, Andy Cummings and Bradley Ellis join the team and all are potential winners.
Ellis has raced in leading GT and prototype championships across the globe, including winning the British GT Championship in 2007. Cummings won the Radical European Masters Supersport class title in 2014 and has driven in the Le Mans Cup. Wells showed a great turn of speed last year. The rally driver turned circuit racer took three podium finishes in four races and is knocking on the door of his first victory. Le Mans driver Marcello Marateotto will lead the Race Performance team entry. Other Revolution teams including RAW Motorsport, ExcelR8 and Greensall Motorsport will confirm their line-ups shortly.
The evergreen Radical SR3 will be a regular feature in the Sports Prototype Cup. 360 Racing has confirmed that Steven Lake and Martin Verrity will join its Cup line-up and teams such as RAW, Breakell and Valour are also offering race hire opportunities. They will do battle in the Open class with Andy Chittenden who will bring his MCR to the Cup for the first time. Other entries representing MCR are expected, with the Cup offering the popular Sports 2000 grid an invitational GP circuit event to add to their impressive calendar.
The two 30-minute races take place on Saturday 29 May and last-minute entries are welcome. Both races will be live-streamed on BARC TV’s YouTube channel with highlights to be broadcast in June.