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)