Due to the first round of the European Le Mans Series coinciding with qualifying for the season opener of the British GT Championship at Brands Hatch, Beechdean Motorsport has substituted Jonny Adam with Darren Turner for the first round of the ELMS.
The race takes place on April 16 between 2.30pm and 6.30pm with qualifying for the British GT Championship taking place between 5.05pm and 5.56pm on the same afternoon. Adam will be driving the #17 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 alongside Derek Johnston in the British GT Championship.
“I am going to miss my fellow divorcee (in reference to Adam) but it is great to be racing back with Darren,” said team owner and driver Andrew Howard. “I raced with him in 2010 and look forward to learning from his vast experience in the GTE car.”
Darren Turner is also excited by the opportunity. “I am really looking forward to joining the Beechdean AMR team and driving with Andrew and Alex in the first round of the ELMS,” said Turner. “It is great to be back driving with Andrew after many years. The championship looks strong and it will be a hard fought race at Silverstone.
Adam has not commented on Beechdean’s decision. The team stated that Adam “will return to Beechdean AMR and ELMS later in the season”. The weekend of April 16 and 17 presents further interesting decisions as Adam is also entered in the #95 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage with Nicki Thim and Marco Sorenson in the first round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, also at Silverstone. The scheduled race times of the opening rounds of the British GT Championship and the World Endurance Championship on April 17 overlap and would not allow him to drive in both.