Horsepower Racing’s British Endurance Championship (BEC) campaign has been dramatically modified. The Scuderia Vittoria-run squad had planned to race their Ferrari 430 in Class 1, but a terminal engine failure during the official Britcar test session on Wednesday left them without a car
As a result, team boss Paul Bailey instead purchased a brand-new Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 directly from Aston Martin. “I didn’t know what else to do. I called up Aston Martin to see if they still had the car, and they said they did,” Bailey said. “Then I called up my bank.” With an overdraft in place, the car was purchased and was brought to Donington Park.
The brand-new car was immediately quick, with co-driver Andy Schultz topping the timesheets in the BEC warm-up session this morning, over two seconds clear of their nearest rivals. The V12 Vantage has been allowed to race by the stewards under the rules of force majeure; the entry list for this weekend’s race was supposed to be finalised on Wednesday.
“Within 24 hours, we’ve gone from a complete disaster to the car being here, stickered up, prepared and P1 in warm-up.”
Bailey is aware of the warm-up session’s relative insignificance, but after finishing third in the overall BEC championship last year, the team are ready for another competitive season.
