The British team is aiming for the Michelin Le Mans Cup podium with LMP3 debutant Rob Wheldon and the returning Alex Kapadia.
RLR MSport's hopes extend to the supporting Michelin Le Mans Cup, as it will field a sole Ligier JSP3 for LMP3 newcomer Rob Wheldon and the returning Alex Kapadia, who comes off a 12-month hiatus from competitive motorsport.
Wheldon is a stalwart of sports-prototype racing who has sporadic appearances in the International GT Open and podium-yielding performances in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup to his name.
Runner-up in the Radical UK Cup’s Supersport division for two years running in 2010 and 2011, he has since finished second in the 2012 Radical European Masters and become a serial race winner in the burgeoning Sports Prototype Cup.
Wheldon will be teamed with RLR MSport-returnee Kapadia in the 2019 Le Mans Cup finale and expects his grounding in sports-prototypes and his knowledge of the Portimao circuit to smooth his transition to LMP3 machinery.
“LMP3 is brand new to me, but I don’t think it will be too alien,” said Wheldon. “I wouldn’t consider entering the Michelin Le Mans Cup if I didn’t believe Alex (Kapadia) and I have a decent chance of challenging for a podium. I’ve raced and tested in Portimao quite a few times now, so that removes some of the unknown from the equation, and because there’s a reasonable amount of testing during a Le Mans Cup weekend, Alex and I should be in fairly good shape come raceday. Alex and I go back a long way and there has never been much between us on the track. Of course, because Alex has experience in P3, he has a head start over me, but we’ve always got on well and pushed each other on.”
