ERC Sport makes its British GT return at this year’s Silverstone 500 after confirming 2011 class champion Peter Belshaw and factory driver Maxi Buhk will race its Mercedes-AMG GT4.
The team ran a GT3-spec Mercedes-AMG throughout 2018 but switches to the GT4 class as part of a race-by-race programme also featuring Spa-Francorchamps on July 20/21.
Belshaw makes his first British GT appearance since 2014 but is best known for winning the GT4 title three years earlier with Marcus Clutton and ABG Motorsport’s KTM X-Bow. He has mostly raced Radicals since then and wrapped up the SR3 Challenge crown with Phil Keen in the same year as his final British GT outing.
Buhk, meanwhile, is widely regarded as one of the world’s best GT3 drivers. The 26-year-old German has won two Blancpain GT Series titles as well as the FIA GT3 European Championship crown, and currently tops the Intercontinental GT Challenge standings. His factory duties have predominantly revolved around racing Mercedes-AMG’s GT3 car, meaning Silverstone will be his first-ever competitive outing in the GT4 variant he originally helped develop.
“Silverstone and Spa will be very different to what I’m used to!” he said. “I’ve competed in multi-class events before but never when I’ve been in the slower category. I’m usually the one trying to find a way through the traffic, so I guess it’s good to see things from a different perspective.
“I know British GT’s GT4 class is very competitive – there’s a lot of good Pros who are used to working with their Ams. And it’s that relationship rather than outright speed that’s crucial to being competitive. Peter’s won the title before and ERC have recent experience of the championship, too, so we should be on the pace. I’m looking forward to it.”
ERC’s entry ensures the new British GT4 record of 23 cars, which was set at Snetterton last time out, will be immediately broken at Silverstone. Indeed, further entries are set to be announced before the championship’s three-hour blue riband event on June 8/9.