McLaren factory driver Kirchhoefer joins West for Garage 59’s Silverstone 500 outing

Alex West and Marvin Kirchhoefer will contest the Intelligent Money British GT Championship’s blue riband Silverstone 500 next weekend after confirming a one-off entry with Garage 59.

West, a Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Pro-Am front runner, last contested the 500 with Garage 59 in 2020 while McLaren factory driver Kirchhoefer makes his British GT debut.

The latter is also no stranger to Garage 59 or its 720S after he and West shared the same car throughout 2022’s Asian Le Mans Series, while their partnership extends further back to the team’s previous GT3 programmes with Aston Martin.

The German is spending the bulk of his season racing Jota Sport’s McLaren in GTWC Europe but is looking forward to his Garage 59 assignment – and British GT debut – next weekend

“I’m excited to join my friends at Garage 59 for this one-off race,” he said. “We have no championship to worry about so we can just go for it and give it our best shot. I know Alex has been doing well in the McLaren 720S so I think we have every chance of a good result at Silverstone.”

Garage 59’s McLaren, like the three-hour event’s other race-by-race entries, is ineligible to score points. Instead, its drivers will be focused on lifting the historic 1932 RAC Trophy, which was first awarded to British GT’s overall Silverstone 500 winners in 2017.

The team is also evaluating the option of a second GT3 entry, although that won’t be confirmed until next week.