The Henderson Insurances LMP3 Cup moved on to Silverstone for the weekend of July 1st and 2nd,

Douglas Motorsport F3 driver Callan O’Keeffe was given his sportscar debut in the Ligier LMP3, and what a debut it was. Qualifying fastest, O’Keeffe’s starting position was amended (as per the rules, no amateur driver took part in qualifying) and he started from the back of the grid.

O’Keeffe made a blistering start but spun at turn 1 in a bid to avoid contact. Despite this, the debutant made his way through the field and took the lead. However, as O’Keeffe was the solo driver in the Ligier LMP3, he had to server an extra 60 second penalty on top of the time required to stop for a driver change. This put him back down the field but in the closing stages he was able to make his way back up to P3 and this is where he finished, and impressive display for a debutant. To add to the result, Callan put in the fastest lap of the race, a lap record,  over .4 seconds ahead of the second fastest driver.

Callan O’Keeffe after Race 1:

“I wouldn’t say I made it easy for myself, obviously, I had a bit of contact into turn one because everyone got on the anchors a bit too early and I put myself into a bit of a spin,” said O’Keeffe. “We had a 60 second penalty, so to make up a total of 80 seconds to get back onto the podium is a pretty good effort.”

In race 2, Callan once again took the lead before the 60 second penalty put a stop to his lead. He would eventually finish P3, and once again record the fastest lap in the race.

“We managed to finish 12 seconds off the lead with the fastest lap of the race in both races, getting the Sunoco fastest driver of the weekend award. So, all in all a pretty successful sports car debut and hopefully it won’t be too long before I’m back in one of these.”

– Callan O’Keeffe

The second weekend of action in this years Henderson Insurance LMP3 Cup Championship saw the Douglas Motorsport team achieve their first podium of the series. After finishing 4th in the first race of the weekend, the second race of the weekend saw the duo of Mike Newbould and Thomas Randle both make up positions from their starting position of last on the grid.

Despite a 1 second stop/go penalty, Randle and Newbould brought the Ligier home in 3rd place, giving the team their first podium in LMP3 and Mike Newbould his first ever podium which made it extra special.

“It’s amazing, it’s my first podium so it’s extra special for me,” said Newbould. “Bring it on at Spa!”

“I’d like to thank Douglas Motorsport for their efforts, Mike for the opportunity and everyone back home in Australia for supporting me,” added Randle. “The car was fantastic and hopefully we can take that pace to Spa

Thomas Randle was the fastest in race 2 of the weekend, so let’s hope for more of the same at Spa in June. Spa was the location for Thomas Randle’s epic British F3 victory for Douglas Motorsport when he came from 9th position to finish in 1st, a win which included a now famous ‘bump draft’ with teammate Enaam Ahmed.

The Media day for the LMP3 Cup took place February 14th at Brands Hatch and Douglas Motorsport were there with the impressive Ligier LMP3.

Take a first look at the Douglas Motorsport Ligier JSP3 LMP3 car, freshly wrapped in it’s new Douglas Motorsport livery: