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Reigning champion Ben looked to be on for a strong result to sign off the season, before a technical issue brought an early end to the challenge.
Ben re-joins 59Racing following his stellar drive to a podium finish at this year’s Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour event back in February. Racing as part of the team’s Pro line-up with Tom Blomqvist and Alvaro Parente, the trio started on the front row at the famous Mount Panorama circuit before bringing the McLaren 720S GT3 home in P2 on its event debut. Ben shared a garage with his fellow factory-affiliated driver Martin Kodrić who took class victory and a top-8 finish in the team’s second entry. Ben has also previously raced alongside British driver Lewis Williamson during 2017, when Ben last contested the Endurance Cup under its former title of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.
The revised 2020 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS calendar will take in four events, with round 1 scheduled to take place at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy over the weekend 25-26 July. The 3-hour event will mark the debut of the McLaren 720S GT3 in the championship; a car which Ben has been heavily involved with throughout its development.
In early September, the championship travels to the Nürburgring for round 2 where Ben has already scored a virtual race win this season. This will be the first of two 6-hour events of the season, with the season finale taking place at Circuit Paul Ricard in France in mid-November. These two 6-hour race events sit either side of one of the motorsport calendar annual highlights, the Total 24 Hours of Spa. The twice-around-the-clock race is traditionally run during the summer months, but with the revised calendar is now scheduled to take place 22-25 October. With this weekend marking the end of summer time, the event will still start and finish at the same time, and as a result running for 25 hours for the first time in its history.
2020 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS
25-26 July : 3 Hours of Imola, Italy
5-6 September : 6 Hours of Nürburgring, Germany
22-25 October : Total 24 Hours of Spa, Belgium
13-15 November : 6 Hours of Paul Ricard, France
“I am really excited to confirm that I will be racing with 59Racing again for the revised 2020 season, and it is great to be a part of one of the most prestigious and competitive championships in GT racing. We started the season with a strong result in Australia, and the whole team is even more prepared and determined than ever to show what we can achieve when we finally get back racing. "
“The driver line up the team has put together definitely shows we mean business. I have raced as a teammate with both Lewis and Martin before, and together I believe we make an extremely competitive team. I raced alongside Lewis in the championship previously and he has shown his abilities by winning the Pro-Am title in 2018, and Martin was hugely impressive with his performance at Bathurst earlier this year. For me personally, I am also extremely proud to be part of a team which continues to debut the McLaren 720S GT3 on the world stage against some of the best in the business. It is going to be a great year!"
Round 1 of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS takes place 25-26 July, with the race starting at 13.30 CEST (12.30 BST) on Sunday 26 July. The event will be streamed live at https://www.gt-world-challenge-europe.com/watch-live.