senna-and-sena

Bruno Senna will race a McLaren for the first time in the Spa 24 Hours later this month.

The nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, a three-time Formula 1 world champion with McLaren, will race one of the British organisation’s MP4-12C GT3s in the centre piece of the Blancpain Endurance Series on July 27/28.

The McLaren is entered by the VonRyan Racing team run by Dave Ryan, who was chief mechanic at McLaren throughout Ayrton’s stint with the team in 1988-1993.

Former grand prix driver Senna, who is racing with Aston Martin Racing in the World Endurance Championship this season, will share the car with his manager and McLaren GT director Chris Goodwin and team regular Rob Barff.

Ryan said: “Having Bruno with us is a real positive for the team, and not because he is a Senna. I’m expecting him to be really quick and I think we have a pretty strong line-up for Spa.”

VonRyan has switched its Blancpain entry from the Pro-Am to the Pro class for Spa at the behest of car owner and regular driver Leon Price.

“Leon wanted to see how the car would go with a strong driver line-up,” he explained. “Leon and I know Chris well, and he did an excellent job with us at Spa last year.

“During the conversations, Chris asked if we were interested in seeing if Bruno was available. And, of course, we were.”

It is unclear whether Senna will get to test a McLaren ahead of Spa.

Ryan said: “Maybe he won’t drive the car until Spa, but I’m not worried because he has demonstrated in the Aston that he’s got the pace in a GT car.”

source: autosport.com