Norris wins Pirelli-supported McLaren Autosport BRDC AwardSeventeen-year-old Lando Norris has won the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, following a rigorous assessment process that included tests on Pirelli tyres.
Announced as the winner at the Pirelli-supported Autosport Awards on Sunday, Norris will now get a test in a McLaren Formula 1 car as well as a role on the team’s simulator. He joins David Coulthard and Jenson Button as a winner of the award.
Norris won three single-seater titles this year, took four wins in a partial season in the Pirelli-equipped BRDC British Formula 3 Championship and impressed on his debut in the famous Macau Grand Prix, supplied by Pirelli for the first time.
He went up against BRDC British F3 rivals Ricky Collard and Toby Sowery as well as former BRDC F4 racer Sennan Fielding for the prize, with the quartet undergoing two days of on-track assessment at Silverstone including in McLaren GT and Formula 2 cars fitted with Pirelli tyres.
Others to receive awards were new F1 champion Nico Rosberg as International Racing Driver, Lewis Hamilton the British Competition Driver, the Mercedes W07 Hybrid the Racing Car of the Year and Pascal Wehrlein Rookie of the Year. Norris also won the British Club Driver award.
Touring car star Tordoff switches to Pirelli-equipped British GTSam Tordoff will switch from touring car racing to the Pirelli-supplied British GT Championship for 2017, joining Barwell Motorsport’s two-car Lamborghini assault.
Tordoff finished second in the British Touring Car Championship this season, but the 27-year-old will now make a full-time switch to GT racing.
He will share a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 with Liam Griffin under the GardX racing with Barwell Motorsport banner, alongside the Demon Tweeks-branded car of 2016 runners-up Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen.
“I am really excited about 2017 as I embark on a new career in GT racing,” he said. “It is something we have looked at pursuing for a while, and when this opportunity presented itself with Liam and Barwell Motorsport it was the perfect time to jump ship.
“I’ve known Liam for a long time and I think together in the Lamborghini we have all the tools in place to mount a serious title challenge. The British GT Championship is going from strength to strength and I am very aware of the expectations of the team to be at the sharp end of it – I cannot wait to get started!”
Top GT Cup team makes Aston Martin move for Pirelli-backed seriesThis year’s GT Cup team champions will return to the series in 2017 with an Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
JMH Automotive ran an Audi R8 GT3 this season for Hud Motorsports driver Nigel Hudson and his professional team-mate Adam Wilcox, with the pair taking victory in the Donington Park pit-stop race in September. They will now bid for the title in a car that won the 2015 GTO crown.
“We’re very excited to be back in GT Cup next year,” said team boss Jason Hughes. “The whole idea behind buying the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 was to upgrade from the Audi with the intention of winning the championship. Last year was Nigel’s rookie year and we ended up leading the race at the last round. Unfortunately we had a driveshaft fail but his improvement as a driver has been fantastic, he has come on leaps and bounds.”
Hudson added: “Once again we will be competing in the GT Cup Championship with the aim of going two places higher in 2017. With the great coaching from Adam Wilcox and the professional support from Jason and his team I felt the decision to stay with JMH was a no brainer and I’m eagerly looking forward to the start of the season.”
Russell leads GP3 testing with PirelliFresh from recently claiming the first Macau Grand Prix Formula 3 pole position on Pirelli tyres, promising British racer George Russell topped last week’s end-of-season GP3 Series test in Abu Dhabi.
Russell is expected to switch to the Pirelli-supplied Formula 1 feeder series next year with ART Grand Prix, and is also tipped for a role within the Mercedes F1 team.
He was more than half a second faster than anyone else on the third and final day of testing, and ahead of Japanese Honda protege Nirei Fukuzumi’s benchmark time from the first day.
Fellow Briton Jack Aitken – who ended the GP3 season with four consecutive podium finishes – was third quickest for ART, before handing his car to Russell and driving for DAMS on the final day.
GP3 runner-up Alex Albon impressed in his debut GP2 test, topping the times on day two and finishing up third overall with ART. Jordan King was seventh for MP Motorsport ahead of Oliver Rowland, who spent all three days with the DAMS team.
