Nick Jones and Sven Müller are eager to bounce back to form in the British GT Championship, with this weekend’s showpiece Silverstone 500 event presenting a great opportunity to shine.
The SD Team-backed drivers were well in the running for a potential top-six finish during the season-opener at Donington Park earlier this month before their Porsche 911 GT3 R was caught in a collision at the chicane, wrecking the pair’s chances of an early points haul.
With the car now fully repaired by the Team Parker Racing technical crew, Jones and Müller have eyes on putting on a show in the year’s biggest race. The three-hour Silverstone 500 is always a hotly contested event, drawing in multiple one-off entries for the endurance race around Britain’s Grand Prix Circuit. This weekend will be no exception, with both a season-high 21-car GT3 entry and a huge crowd expected, with the action also being shown live on Sky Sports F1.
The longer race format means teams have extra strategic freedom, with no set pit windows allowing each crew to find the fastest way to the chequered flag.
Jones last contested this event in 2023, when he and the team gave the new-generation 992 GT3 R its British GT debut. This will be Müller’s first experience of the Silverstone 500, but the Porsche factory star knows the circuit well having competed in the Blancpain Endurance Series there in 2019. His vast experience of competing at world-class endurance events such as the Spa and Nürburgring 24 Hours will also make him one to watch aboard the #66 Porsche.
The overall Silverstone 500 winners are also rewarded with the prestigious 1932 RAC Trophy, which was originally awarded to the victors of the 500-mile race at Brooklands.
Nick Jones says: “The Silverstone 500 is a special race and always great to be a part of. It’s a long old race, and very physical with the pace of it and the longer stints, but I really enjoy that challenge. We had two days of testing to get back into the swing of things and that went well, so I’m sure the car will be in a good place and I know Sven’s fired up for this one. There were loads of positives to take from the first race at Donington, so we’ll aim to build on those and see where it can take us. There’s no doubt we’ll get more into the mix as the season goes on, so we’ll be giving it full gas from the start of the weekend.”
Sven Müller says: “I’m fully motivated and ready for my first Silverstone 500. It’s the biggest race of the year for the championship and we’ll have a few new guests starting with us that will make the competition even harder than the first round. We had a good test together and the car feels in good and hopefully we will get a bit more luck this time as the pace at Donington was good until the unlucky accident. But I think we are well prepared for three hours of hardcore racing, that’s exactly what we are looking forward to.”
British GT’s Silverstone 500 weekend gets underway with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Saturday morning ahead of Qualifying at 16:15. Sunday begins with a morning Warm-Up ahead of the scheduled race start at 12:30. As well as live coverage of both Qualifying and the Race on Sky Sports F1, the action will be streamed live on the GT World YouTube channel and every session will have live timing.
