American based New Zealand racing driver Matt Halliday has signed to drive in the European based Blancpain Endurance Series for the high profile Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. The three car team will contest the Championship in the new 2013 Audi R8 LMS ULTRA GT3 against the world’s top manufacturers and drivers confirmed for the series which includes the legendary Total 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
The Championship, promoted by the SRO Motorsports Group, features teams from most of the world’s top high performance manufacturers including Audi, Ferrari, McLaren, Lamborghini, BMW, Aston Martin, Mercedes, Porsche and Nissan. The opening round is set to take place at Italy’s Monza circuit this coming weekend with 35 teams entering a maximum grid of 60 cars thus confirming the popularity and profile of the series
Having formerly been recognised as a regular Porsche competitor, the switch to Audi signifies a dramatic change in direction in Halliday’s racing career:
“After competing against WRT last year in the FIA GT1 World Championship and getting a glimpse from the outside as to how professional a team they are and combined with Audi’s focus and worldwide push in GT racing, it was a target during the off season to fight for an opportunity to drive for them.
“From the moment I first spoke with team owner Vincent Vosse to getting in the car for testing at Paul Ricard and Monza a few weeks ago, it has been a great experience to work with a team at this level as well as very exciting.
“Hopefully we can have a strong year together and use that to form a longer term partnership with both the team and Audi in the future” explained Halliday from his Los Angeles base yesterday.
Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Principal Vincent Vosse also expressed enthusiasm at his new signing:
“Having seen Matt active in some great things in GT1 last year and to get to work with a driver with his level of experience is great for the whole team. We are looking forward to a great 2013 season!” he said.
Halliday’s co-drivers for the five round endurance championship will be Austrian racing star Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof and highly rated Swiss DTM female driver Rahel Frey.
2013 BLANCPAIN ENDURANCE SERIES CALENDER:
Round 1 – April 14th – Monza, Italy (3 Hours)
Round 2 – June 2nd – Silverstone, Great Britain (3 Hours)
Round 3 – June 30th – Paul Ricard, France (3 Hours)
Round 4 – July 27th & 28th – Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (24 Hours)
Round 5 – September 22nd – Nürburgring, Germany (1000 km)
