Sportscar racing extravaganza roars into Silverstone this month
Author: Alison Hill | Published: 20th August 2019 09:47 |
Silverstone hosts the first round of the FIA World Endurance Championship 2019/20 which has the Le Mans 24 Hour race as its finale next year and with a field of over 30 cars, it’s expected to be a fitting opener for Season 8 of this top sportscar series. The winners will receive the historic Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy, awarded in competition since 1905 and the world’s oldest motorsport trophy.
The 4 Hours of Silverstone World Endurance Championship headliner is supported by the fourth round of the European Le Mans Series, another 4-hour endurance distance with a grid of 41 cars blasting around the Grand Prix circuit. Add in two Porsche Carrera Cup GB races, lots of trackside entertainment including the WEC Fan Zone and the best VR gear review, full paddock access and an impressive Porsche cars display, you have an octane fuelled weekend of fun.
Sky Sports F1 contributor and United Autosports driver, Paul Di Resta enters his first FIA WEC campaign at Silverstone. The Scottish driver is relishing the weekend, “It is clearly one of the best circuits, definitely up in the top two that I’ve ever driven,” says Di Resta. “I think the only one that I can closely compare it with is Suzuka. They are the two outright standalone tracks for me. Having seen what the spectacle was like at the British Grand Prix [in July], just the racing that Silverstone creates and the buzz it creates for the drivers is tremendous.”
Di Resta competed in three British Grands Prix between 2011-13 and pinpoints the classic Copse to Stowe section of Silverstone as the standout challenge. “There is going to be no better sector than, I think, Copse, Maggotts, Becketts, Stowe,” he says. “You know, as a sequence of corners it’s probably a class apart.”
Silverstone has lined up a jampacked weekend of entertainment on and off the track. With over 18 hours of track action and 90 cars racing across three days, there’s never a dull moment for the fans. The trackside entertainment zone includes fun karting for youngsters, a big wheel for the bird’s eye view of the circuit, tricks and stunts in the Demon Drone Wall of Death, face painting and much more. Pit lane walks, paddock access, driver autograph sessions, car displays and the WEC Fan Zone complete the wide range of activities for visitors.
Getting around the circuit couldn’t be easier too, with free shuttle buses. A vintage food court and paddock cafes will keep fans fuelled all day as well as refreshment bars around the track. The Woodlands campsite just a stone’s throw away is a popular choice for accommodation, so it’s a great weekend for all the family.
Tickets for the FIA World Endurance Championship weekend start from £10 (Friday) and free entry for children aged 15 and under. Tickets can be pre-purchased online at www.silverstone.co.uk and will also be available on the day from £15.
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