London | UK
Bentley Motorsport has announced its 2018 racing line-up. The iconic brand will retain five of its six works drives for this year’s season. Spa 24 Hours race-winner Jules Gounon (FR) will be added to the long-standing line-up: Bentley Boys Guy Smith (GB), Steven Kane (GB), Andy Soucek (ES), Maxime Soulet (BE) and Vince Abril (MC).
Brian Gush, Bentley’s Director of Motorsport, commented, “Consistency is key for endurance racing so to have five of our drivers back to continue their long-standing relationships with us allows us to get stronger year-on-year and is testament to the loyalty within our team. Jules [Gounon] has shown that he has the pace and maturity to fit in to a leading team, despite only being 22 years old, and we’re looking forward to supporting him as he develops his career. We’re all looking forward to arriving in Bathurst in February and getting 2018 underway.”
The new line-up of drivers for the Bentley Motorsport team will be competing in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. The team will be entering for Bentley’s fifth season with two brand new second generation Bentley Team M-Sport Continental GT3s and will also complete the entire Intercontinental GT Challenge for the first time.
Bentley motorsport’s 2018 season will kick off with the Bathurst 12 Hours and will be completed in the current-spec Continental GT3. Based on the New Continental GT road car, the all-new Continental GT3 will make its debut in Monza for the opening round of the Blancpain GT Series. It will also be used to finish the Intercontinental GT Challenge races at Spa-Francorchamps, Suzuka and Laguna Seca.