Former single-seater champion Duncan Tappy has confirmed a full-season switch to endurance racing after a successful first outing for ART Grand Prix driving a McLaren MP4-12C GT3 at Monza.
Tappy, the 2007 Formula Renault UK champion, scored a race win and regular podiums in the now-defunct Superleague Formula championship and helped DAMS to the team title in AutoGP, finishing third in the drivers’ standings.
He partnered French driver Grégoire Demoustier in the Monza round of the Blancpain Endurance Series, the pair finishing as the leading McLaren, and the performance was strong enough to land him the drive for the rest of the season.
ART co-owner Frédéric Vasseur said: “At ART Grand Prix, we have always set the bar very high in terms of what we aim to achieve in any category we enter. Therefore, we knew that we wanted our inaugural season in GT racing to be led by a driver with pace, intelligence and full commitment to the team’s cause.
“I was already aware of Duncan through his titles in single-seater racing and he definitely confirmed to us that he is the right man for the job, during the first round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza. We are therefore very pleased to have signed him for the rest of the season.”
Tappy said: “I am delighted to be teaming up with two of most prestigious names in international motor sport in ART Grand Prix and McLaren. The car had a few normal teething issues at Monza but we were very competitive for most of the race and we managed to bring it home in the end.”