On Wednesday morning, K-PAX Racing announced that they will be switching from the McLaren 650S GT3 to the Bentley Continental GT3 for the 2018 Pirelli World Challenge season. The team will also once again field three full-time entries after cutting down to two in the middle of the 2017 season.
Program manager Darren Law is very happy for the team’s association with McLaren. However, he believes that big things are ahead with Bentley.
“Working with McLaren GT for the past four years has been a great experience and produced tremendous results,” Law said in a press release. “At the end of each season we evaluate the performance of our team and our program as well as what the future looks like. With the introduction of the new Bentley Continental GT3, we see a lot of potential. Currently, we are in the process of finalizing K-PAX’s 2018 driver line-up and will be making an announcement soon. We look forward to joining the Bentley Racing family and continuing our success beginning with next season.”
Bentley is thrilled to have K-PAX Racing in the fold as well.
“I’m delighted to welcome K-PAX Racing to the Bentley Motorsport family,” said Brian Gush, Bentley’s Director of Motorsport. “They are a team with an impressive and proven track record in the Pirelli World Challenge and together we will take the fight to the competition. I look forward to working together.”
In the four years that K-PAX Racing fielded McLarens (first the MP4-12C GT3, then the 650S GT3), the team earned 15 wins and 34 podium finishes. They also won the GT driver and team championships while earning the manufacturers’ title for McLaren in 2016.
As a result of the switch to Bentley, there will be at least two seats to fill. Àlvaro Parente, who drove the No. 9 McLaren (pictured above) to the 2016 GT championship, is a factory driver for McLaren. As a result, he won’t be back with the team in 2018. The No. 98 was driven by Mike Hedlund in the GTA class until the team decided to park the car. That will have to be filled as well.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.