GT: F3 racer Barnicoat to make sportscar debut

European Formula 3 Championship race winner Ben Barnicoat will make his sportscar debut in this weekend's Nurburgring Blancpain GT Series event with the WRT Audi team.

The 19-year-old Briton has been brought into the WRT lineup for the final Endurance Cup BGTS round after trying one of its Audi R8 LMS GT3 cars at Barcelona on Wednesday alongside fellow Racing Steps Foundation driver Jake Dennis.

Barnicoat got the nod for the drive vacated by Peter Kox in the #4 WRT Audi alongside Pierre Kaffer and Adrian de Leener as a result of the test.

WRT boss Vincent Vosse told Autosport: "I had this vacancy and wanted to try some youngsters with an eye on the future.

"Both did an amazing job and were very quickly on the pace; it was a bit of a toss of a coin to decide between them."

Vosse added that Barnicoat's lack of sportscar experience in comparison with GP3 racer Dennis, who has raced the G-Drive/Jota Gibson-Nissan 015S LMP2 twice this year, made his performance "extra impressive".

The arrangement with Barnicoat is a one-off, Vosse stressed.

"But that doesn't mean we won't work with Ben and Jake again in the future," he added.

Originally on Autosport.com