Vannelet and Paillard Join Caterham Cosworth Masters Grid

20 March 2006

Experienced sports car racer Gilles Vannelet is to team up with Caterham racing frontrunner Luc Paillard to contest the Cosworth Caterham Masters.

Vannelet and Paillard will share a CSR 260 prepared by Hyperion Motorsport - championship winners last year with Luke Stevens and Jon Barnes - and will spearhead the Suffolk team's bid to retain the Masters crown.

Next month's series opener at Hockenheim in Germany will be Vannelet's first championship outing at the wheel of a Caterham, but the Frenchman has experience of almost every other form of motorsport. He was a class winner in the French Rally Championship in the early '90s and has contested the Monte Carlo Rally; in French circuit racing he won the 1993 Porsche Cup and the 1999 Renault Megane Cup; and he has latterly contested French GT, ALMS and LMES sports car events as well as Trophee Andros ice racing.

Paillard - born in France but a Sevenoaks, Kent, resident for many years - has Caterham racing experience stretching back to 2000, when he contested the Roadsport Challenge. He moved up to the Superlight Challenge and was a Eurocup podium finisher in an R400 in 2004. "It will be good to team up with my friend Gilles," said 42-year-old Luc. "We shared a CSR 260 for a race at Le Castellet last year and got hooked. Gilles is very quick and we should make a good team."

Paillard and Vannelet join an increasingly formidable Cosworth Caterham Masters grid. Last week it was revealed that Simon Jackson and his sons Dominik and Cameron are to share a Colards Motorsport-prepared car alongside a sister machine for rapid Italian Michele Tommasi. Other Masters runners to have declared include former Eurocup sparring partners Oliver Bull and Sarah Reader, and husband-and-wife squad Philip and Natasha Gladman.

Caterham's 12-round mini-endurance series for the CSR features twin one-hour races at Hockenheim, Donington, Estoril, Spa, Monza and Pau-Arnos.

Backers for Caterham Motorsport's UK and European race series include Autosport, Bilstein, Brian James Trailers, Caged, Cheesman Products, Comma, Cosworth, Cooper-Avon Tyres, Demon Tweeks, evo, HSBC Insurance Brokers, Mitchell Cotts, Motorsport News and Stack.

See series calendars for all 2006 Caterham Championships

Related Story 12.03.2006 - Jackson Three Team Up for Caterham Cosworth Masters Campaign