Overview of Round 3 at Donington, Dunlop Endurance Championship
Car 46 INGSport BMW Z4 GT3

After a brief interlude since Round 1 at Silverstone, INGSport arrived at Donington for round 3 on Friday evening. This round was particularly exciting for us as we were joined by Ryan Lindsay as 3rd driver. Ryan is an experienced and astute race driver and MSA instructor who, despite having never driven the Z before Saturday, adapted very quickly to the Z’s chassis. A true talent.

Saturday morning dawned with glorious sunshine, but the outlook was fairly grey. Free practice in the morning gave Ryan a chance to get to grips with the set-up of the car but an oily track hindered a solid practice run. All 3 drivers put in some good qualifying times with Ian Lawson securing INGSport’s P8 position on the grid despite some technical issues that surfaced.(intercom systems and dash issues playing up) which were addressed in the down-time between quali and the race.

The team enjoyed a great lunch in the Britcar hospitality tent – many thanks to all the Britcar catering team for being so attentive and providing such great food.

Overall the race was a mix of fortunes for many teams with gearbox problems, punctures, fuel issues and safety cars being the order of the day. Unfortunately our start to the race was not our finest. During the parade lap, Ian experienced a simple but annoying gearbox issues resulting in him pitting whilst the others were beginning the line-up. The brief pit stop then forced a pit lane start pushing us to the back of the grid after the lights went out. What we thought had been resolved occurred again during Ian’s first lap which forced yet another pit stop and this time it pushed us back 5 laps behind the leaders. Once corrected the car ran faultlessly and Ian started to claw back some places. Ryan’s middle stint proved his worth as he was the fastest driver on track and his consistent and admirable efforts pushed us up to P8. Kevin’s “showstopper” stint put INGSport into a finishing P6 and 3rd in class. The Z4 lap times proved that a podium finish had definitely been on the cards had so much time not been lost – our fastest lap was a low 1.32 and the finishing podium order was 1.29 / 1.32 / 1.33. Nevertheless, Saturday’s race at Donington was a great example of how well our 3 drivers worked as a team. Despite some glitches, INGSport persevered, as they always do, and managed to win some class points.

We were thrilled to have Ryan Lindsay with us on Saturday. He added great energy to the team and we hope that it’s not the last you’ll see him racing with INGSport. We would also like to thank Claire Hedley for her dedication in shaping Britcar into what it has become – keep up the fantastic work. Thank you to everyone who came along to the garage to support INGSport and to all those taking incredible action shots of the Z – if you’ve uploaded them onto social media please do tag us and let us know that they’re there.

INGSport won’t be at the next round at Thruxton (apologies!) – we have a very busy schedule in July and are focusing all of our efforts on other events. In the next few days we will be providing more details on what we will be up to and how you can get involved.

Overview of Round 1 at Silverstone, Dunlop Endurance Championship

Car 46 - INGSport BMW Z4 GT3

Wow – what a weekend! Firstly, a huge congratulations and thank you to Claire Hadley and her Britcar team for organising a superb opening round of the Dunlop Endurance Championship with such a fantastic range of cars. It’s a shame that the weather couldn’t be organised in accordance!

The INGSport team made their way to Silverstone on Thursday evening so we could have a full day of testing and preparation on Friday. A new exhaust pipe was picked up and fitted on Friday morning in order to silence the Z4 and fit in with Britcar noise regulations (booo!). There was lots of positivity and excitement for Saturday’s race and the sun also made a rare but short appearance!

All the INGSport team were up bright and early on Saturday morning in time for scrutineering and practice at 9am. The weather was not as impressive as Friday and heavy rain was expected for later on in the day. Some friends and family members arrived to support INGSport just in time for qualifying at 11.25am. The new Britcar regulations stipulate that the fastest qualifier must start the race. The track was right in the middle of slicks or wets. The damp and misty rain was not consistent so the decision was made to run wets. Kevin Clarke went out first and put in some good times and then Ian Lawson did his stint and managed to put the team in P13. This also meant that Ian would start the race. We were all happy with our qualifying position given the weather conditions and competition.

After qualifying, the team had a quick lunch break and made good use of Britcar’s hospitality tent. It’s a real shame that the tent didn’t last very long due to high winds! Huge respect and appreciation goes out to all the marshals who stood in the wind and rain all day long - thank you!

The rolling start was fantastic to watch, with the spray rising high up into the air as the impressive grid thundered off to Copse corner. It even looked terrifying as a spectator. After his stint Ian said, “I could just see the rear light of the Audi R8 in front of me and thought I’ll just have to follow you!” Unfortunately the FF Corse Ferrari had their race cut very short as their pole man Callum Lockie didn’t make it round turn 1 and ended up in the barrier. The Z4 gained several places before coming in for a fuel and driver change at a little over an hour into the race. Kevin took over and rejoined at P9. Having picked up momentum Kevin eventually put the Z into P5, but with 30 minutes to go the heavens opened and the rain became very heavy. A lot of spectators retreated to warmer environments and the race was red-flagged due to the appalling conditions. At that point, a podium finish looked very likely for INGSport. Nonetheless the whole team are very pleased with a P5 finish given the level of competition on the grid, and especially since neither driver had ever driven the Z4 in the wet!

Everyone in INGSport had a brilliant couple of days at Silverstone and we would like to thank everyone who came along to the garage on the day and stood in the pouring rain to show their support for us. Thanks also to all those who took the time to take fantastic photographs of the Z4 on and off the circuit – if you’ve uploaded them onto social media please do tag us and let us know that they’re there, or you can email them to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we would be thrilled to receive them. Our own photographs from the day will be uploaded to our web site shortly for you all to see. Thank you also to each and every team member of INGSport – your continued commitment and support is crucial to the success of our small team. Last but not least, thanks to all our followers and fans – old and new – continue to share, like, Tweet, hashtag #INGSport and anything else you can think of… we love hearing from you and seeing your support for our team.

Didn’t get an Easter egg at the weekend? Treat yourself to an INGSport t-shirt from our merchandise page instead! 

Photo credit: Steve Borowik (intro photo) and Martin Eyles (main photo)

Dunlop Endurance Championship: Silverstone, 26th March 2016

Excitement is building in the INGSport camp as we look forward to the first round of the new Dunlop Endurance Championship on the Grand Prix Circuit at Silverstone this Saturday 26th March.

The team are prepped and ready after a really productive day testing at Donington last week. We need to ensure that we are performing at our absolute best on Saturday as we will be against a very competitive grid.

There has been a fantastic response to the new Britcar format with 26 confirmed entries in the two-hour opening round of the Dunlop Endurance Championship. Alongside our INGSport BMW Z4 GT3 in Class 1 - driven by Ian Lawson and Kevin Clarke - we will be competing for the number one spot against current reigning Dunlop Endurance champions David Mason and Callum Lockie in the FF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3.

For live updates of INGSport’s progress over the weekend follow INGSport on Twitter (@INGSport), Instagram (@ingsport55) and on Facebook (facebook.com/ingsport55).

 Below is a full entry list for each of the classes in this weekend’s Britcar Endurance Championship at Silverstone

 

    

 

The countdown has begun!

We can't believe that it's the middle of March already but one good thing about the days whizzing by is that the 2016 Britcar Endurance Champhionship is almost upon us - only 10 days to go! In preparation for Silverstone, the INGSport team spent the day at Donington circuit yesterday testing in the Z4. Despite the freezing temperatures, testing went well and everyone in the team is looking forward to the 26th March. One of our pit crew members captured some brilliant moments from the day!

 

INGSport are excited to announce their return to Britcar this year!

We will be entering our Z4 GT3 into the Dunlop Endurance Championship, with the first round taking place at Silverstone on 26th March 2016. Driver Ian Lawson is looking forward to getting back into the car and is relishing the opportunity to race against some highly regarded teams. As for the rest of the INGSport team, we will be giving 110% as always to achieve what we like doing best – winning. Testing in the Z4 will be happening in the next couple of weeks; we have new Dunlop tyres which we are keen to see the results of.

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