Goodbye Bentley, says HTP

The guys of the German HTP Motorsport squad will go for the second straight car change in 2016, as the team parted ways with Bentley and the Continental GT3 model.

HTP Motorsport raced until last year with Mercedes machinery, as the SLS AMG GT3 model helped Maximilian Buhk to achieve the 2013 Spa 24 Hours as well the drivers title in the Blancpain Endurance Series that year and the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series title, usually in company of the DTM driver Maximilian Götz.

In 2015, the team switched to the Bentley Continental GT3, and with a better prepared car compared to its initial year, HTP Motorsport conquered the overall and the Silver CUp titles in the Blancpain Sprint Series, with Buhk, the Frenchman Vincent Abril and Jules Szymkowiak.

Unfortunately for HTP, its star drivers will be retained by Bentley, as Buhk and Abril now have a factory contract with the British manufacturer, and they will probably be key to Parker Racing, current BES Am class champions, in its new effort with Bentley in the Pro-Am class from 2016 onwards.

The British squad will make use of four Continental GT3 models, as two cars go to the BES campaign and the other two will be used in the British GT Championship next year, which is in fact a bit similar with the program that HTP Motorsport made this year.

Although the car is already confirmed, Parker Racing has still to confirm the driver lineups, and if Ian Loggie and Julian Westwood confirm their presences with the team, they will be split between the two cars and be share them with a Bentley factory driver.

Also unclear is which will be the car that HTP Motorsport will use next year. Although a Mercedes comeback would be the logical thinking as the AMG GT3 is finally in the Road, other cars may be in the cards.

PHOTO: HTP Motorsport, Team Parker Racing