Nurburgring Endurance Series debutant Brett Lidsey made a strong start to life in the category during official pre-season testing at the Nurburgring-Nordschleife on Saturday with impressive pace at the wheel of his Sorg Rennsport BMW M240i.
Lidsey, who makes the move onto the European stage this year after a spectacular race-winning season in the Renault UK Clio Cup in 2019, joined new team-mates Ivan Berets and Kevin Wolters with all three drivers proving competitive.
Marking Northfleet-based Lidsey’s first official appearance in the BMW, he continued to adapt very proficiently to the rear-wheel drive car – having raced, of course, in front-wheel drive categories throughout his career.
During Saturday’s run at the legendary 24-kilometre Nurburgring-Nordschleife, the British ace lapped competitively and consistently and completed a total of 10 laps. Importantly, there was little to choose between the three Sorg Rennsport team-mates, which bodes well for the coming season.
Frustratingly, Lidsey’s hopes of carrying his terrific momentum forward into next weekend’s championship curtain-raiser is now not going to be possible after organisers opted to postpone the first two races of the season due to ongoing concerns globally over the coronavirus.
“It’s really disappointing after such a good test we now can’t take that forward into next weekend with the postponement of round one, but we all appreciate and understand why it’s happening with the coronavirus outbreak and we support the decision of the organisers”, said the 28-year-old.
“Saturday was a really good day, I completed 10 laps and the pace was very good. All three of us were pretty evenly matched according to the team, so that’s positive for the season as consistency is so important in endurance racing like this. To be honest, the test was mostly about getting some good seat time, overall it couldn’t have been any better really.”
He added: “The car is great to drive, I’m really enjoying it and it’s good to be in rear-wheel drive after so many years in front-wheel drive cars like the Renault Clio. We all wish we could be racing at the Nordschleife next weekend as originally planned, but we’re ready for whenever the organisers say we can go racing.”
For the 2020 season in the Nurburgring Endurance Series, Lidsey is being supported by long-term sponsors Liftout and Dornack. With the first two rounds of the championship postponed due to the COVID-19 situation, the start of the season is likely to be delayed by at least one month.
For all the latest from the championship, visit www.vln.de/en
2020 Nurburgring Endurance Series Calendar
21st March – Race 1: 66. ADAC Westfalenfahrt POSTPONED
4th April – Race 2: 45. DMV 4-Stunden-Rennen POSTPONED
18th April – Race 3: 62. ADAC ACAS Cup
27th June – Race 4: 51. Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken-Trophy
11th July – Race 5: 60. ADAC Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen
1st August – Race 6: 43. RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen
29th August – Race 7: ROWE 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen
26th September – Race 8: 52. ADAC Barbarossapreis
24th October – Race 9: 45.DMV Munsterlandpokal
Pictures supplied by 1Vier Communication.