Apex Motorsport comes into this weekend’s opening round of the FIA GT3 European Championship with much to prove.  The team will be facing an emotionally challenging time at Silverstone, this being the first time they will be without Apex’s founder and leading force, Richard Lloyd, and the beautiful gunmetal grey Jaguar XKR GT3 will be making its UK debut in the Championship against a packed and highly competitive field.  

The Buckinghamshire-based team, with the considerable expertise and experience of the late David Leslie, has worked hard over the winter months to develop the GT3 car to a more competitive level.  The 2008 specification cars are not only lighter, but they also have more power available to them and improved suspension. 

“From nose to tail, the car has been improved in many areas and is massively different from the 2007 specification,” said Harry Handkammer. “Mountune has developed the engine for us to make it more usable and to give us more power so hopefully we will be in good shape for this weekend.”

Leading the driving squad of the two cars entered at Silverstone is the pairing of the rapid young Britons, Phil Quaife and Stuart Hall.  Despite his tender years, Quaife (22) has won multiple championships including the 2006 Porsche Carrera Cup GB title so is well used to mixing with a highly competitive field of sportscars.  He took part in a test session held by the team at Snetterton last week, so has had some opportunity – albeit limited – of driving the no. 33 Jaguar.  Hertfordshire based Stuart Hall has enjoyed a meteoric rise to sportscar success, and is currently part of two young driver training schemes aimed at producing Britain’s next Le Mans winner.  The pair offer a potent driving force for the Apex Jaguar team this weekend.

In the no. 32 car is the British-American pairing of Ben Clucas and Robert Hissom.  The 24-year-old Clucas has combined single-seater racing with GTs over the last two years, with considerable success.  Champion of the 2006 Australian F3 series, he was also runner up in the 2007 Spanish GT series so is fast and versatile.   His driving partner for the Silverstone event is American semi-pro driver who last year made his debut on the FIA scene with a race in the Kreyem Racing Stealth GT4 car.

The FIA GT3 European Championship is a ‘Cup of Cups’ for the latest GT production models, affordable racing for non-professional drivers, using the performance-balancing techniques pioneered by the GT1 category of the FIA GT Championship.  While Apex has Jaguar’s blessing and support to compete with the XKR GT3, this is not a factory motorsport programme and the Apex race activities are independent of Jaguar.