This weekend's 6 Hours of Silverstone will start a new chapter for Team RLR when the British team return to Le Mans Series action after the summer break.
It will also be the Lancashire-based teams first race since the addition of MG as a sponsor and the confirmation of former Touring Car driver and sportscar stalwart Warren Hughes as part of the driving line-up.
Hughes adds experience to the team, driving the MG Lola EX265 with co-drivers Barry Gates and Rob Garofall.
“I'm really looking forward to being back in action with Team RLR,” said Hughes. “I'm not sure what the weather will be like but I was impressed with how good the MG Lola was to drive in the wet during our recent test at Snetterton, so it shouldn't be a problem if it does rain. With only testing to go on though I'm not sure how close to the pace of the class leaders we'll be at Silverstone.”
“Only once we've been out on track in practice and qualifying will we be able to judge that and settle our strategy. As long as we can stay trouble free anything can happen and a podium is not out of the question if things go our way. It would be nice to do that on home turf and then look to finish the season on a high at the final race in Estoril.”
With Hughes added to the roster the team will be aiming to bounce back from a retirement at Imola with a strong run infront of a home crowd and with the added expectation after the summer announcements.
“Silverstone is a crucial event for us and we've been working very hard to prepare for it,” said team principal Nick Reynolds. “We want to bounce back from the last round at Imola by securing a really strong result in front of our home crowd. It's a fantastic place to go racing Silverstone, even more so with the addition of the new Silverstone Wing complex, and we're looking forward to having all of our guests and fans of the team there supporting us. We'll be up against some of the world's top endurance racing drivers and teams, but it's another chance to show we mean business and prove ourselves against the very best.”
Also pushing the team on is the knowledge that last year's event – only their second event in the LMS – was spoilt only by a late race mechanical failure that robbed them of a good result.
Gates explained; “We're all excited about going to Silverstone and looking to achieve a good result on home soil. Last year at Silverstone we missed out on a decent finish close to the end of the race, so we want to put that right as we have moved on a long way since then as a team and should now be considered as serious competitors.”