Ecurie Ecosse targets Europeposted in MSPOR13 | 04 | 2012
SCOTLAND'S MOST FAMOUS sportscar team, Ecurie Ecosse, returns to action tomorro at Monza just five days after winning a race for the first time in 19 years.
Hot on the heels of its win in the British GT Championship at Oulton Park, the Edinburgh-based team starts its campaign in the European-based Blancpain Endurance Series in Italy.
And Ecurie Ecosse will go head-to-head with nine-times motorcycle world champ Valentino Rossi, who will share a Ferrari 458 with fellow Italian Alessio Salucci.
Rossi will race in the Pro-Am category, the same class in which the Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3 competes.
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"It's a been a seriously quick turnaround," team leader Alasdair McCaig admitted today. "As soon as we'd finished at Oulton on Monday the trucks were loaded and set off for Monza.
"Being part of the first race win for Ecurie Ecosse since 1993 was fantastic, and this weekend we're gunning for class success in the Blancpain."
McCaig will sit-out Sundays three-hour race, instead handing the driver's seat to fellow Edinburgh racer Andrew Smith, plus English duo Joe Twyman and Ollie Millroy.
"There will be more than 60 cars on the grid on Sunday, so qualifying on Saturday is crucial for us," McCaig continued.
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"We know the car's fast, but the switch to the Blancpain Endurance Series is step up from the Britsh GT, so we know it's going to be a tough weekend."
Indeed, the quality of the field is high. In addition to a raft of super-quick McLaren MP4-12C GT3 cars on the grid, there are race cars from Lamborghini, Porsche, Mercedes, Aston Martin and Ferrari.
And in addition to Rossi, there's a clutch of other world class drivers competing this weekend, including former Formula One drivers Karl Wendlinger and Mark Blundell, plus Le Mans 24-Hours winner David Brabham.
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Jim McGill