Garry Findlay will be a surprise inclusion on the entry list for next weekend’s European Le Mans Series race at Silverstone, having received a late call to complete the line-up in the Graff-run G-Drive Racing entry.

The Briton will return to the LMP2 category he last competed in during the 2016 ELMS season, joining James Allen (Australia) and Jose Gutierrez (Mexico) behind the wheel of the #40 ORECA-Gibson run under the G-Drive banner by French sportscar veterans Graff Racing. The deal also reunites Findlay with Graff, with whom he previously raced in the VdeV Endurance series and tested for prior to the team debuting the Ligier LMP3 in 2015.

“This opportunity has come completely out of the blue,” Findlay admitted, “I had hoped to put together a testing programme towards the end of the year with a view to racing in 2019, but Graff called with an offer I couldn’t turn down. I’d always kept in touch with the team, having raced with them before, and was talking to them about testing, so that clearly worked in my favour when they were looking for a driver for Silverstone.

“Testing opportunities appear limited until the end of the season, so this is a great opportunity to get some seat time and acquaint myself with the latest LMP2 cars. The plan was always to comeback to the ELMS – it has just come a little earlier than I expected!”

Unlike his 2016 appearances with the Murphy Prototypes team, Findlay will get the chance to race an LMP2 car on home soil, and is looking forward to returning to Silverstone – even though the circuit has changed significantly since he last raced there.

“I don’t think I’ve raced anywhere in the UK since 2009,” the 28-year old reflected, “So much of my racing has taken place in mainland Europe in recent years - and in series that don’t venture to this side of the English Channel - that I’m more familiar with circuits overseas. It’ll be nice to return to Silverstone, even though the layout has changed a lot since I raced there in Formula Ford, and I’m looking forward to driving the ORECA on a circuit that should suit the car.”

Findlay has not raced at all since his last outing in the ELMS, where he ran as high as fourth overall at Spa-Francorchamps with the Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan. Much has changed in the class since then, with the move to mandatory closed-cockpit cars amongst them.

“The car I drove for Murphy was very much ‘old school’ LMP2,” Findlay confirmed, “The ORECA 03R was one of the last open-top entries in ELMS and there have been a couple of versions of the current LMP2 since then, so it will be good to get my hands on the latest piece of kit, especially with a view to racing regularly in 2019. I already know a lot of the guys who will be working on the car from my previous time with Graff – I’ll be working with the same engineer I worked with in VdeV – so that will make the transition easier.”

The 4 Hours of Silverstone, round four of the 2018 European Le Mans Series, takes place over the weekend of 18-19 August, with the race being shown live on Motorsport.TV and www.europeanlemansserries.com.