Former British Formula Renault and Star Mazda Champion, Adam Christodoulou, has returned from Spa with a well-earned finish in Belgium’s prestigious 24 hour endurance race.

Just missing out on a top-ten class finish at the Total 24 Hours of Spa, Christodoulou was partnered with regular Le Mans series team mate Phil Quaife, as well as Glynn Geddie and Roger Wills in the #60 VonRyan GT3-spec McLaren MP4-12C.

Despite still being at an early stage of its development, Christodoulou and his teammates demonstrated the potential of the car on Thursday by scoring fastest in the first free practice session.Taking eleventh in the Pro-Am class, and 25th overall, the new car showed promising form for McLaren who were making their return to twenty-four hour GT racing for the first time in fifteen years.

Changeable conditions during qualifying generated a succession of red flags, which saw the team beginning in 38th place for Saturday’s race start. However, slick driving quickly moved them into the top ten and twenty-four hours on, they brought the car home intact and with a laudable result.

Christodoulou managed to score the fastest individual lap, taking the 12C GT3 around the circuit in an outstanding lap time of 2:23.214 on lap 256.

Commenting on the team’s impressive performance, Chris Goodwin, McLaren GT executive and McLaren Automotive Chief Test Driver said, “The performance of the 12C GT3 and its drivers in car 60 was equally pleasing. Feedback from the team’s engineers and drivers indicates that the 12C GT3 is meeting its reliability and drivability targets.”

As McLaren now looks to develop the car for a full consumer programme in 2012, this key race feedback will help to shape the development of the vehicle in the coming months.

Former Formula Renault British champion and Star Mazda champion, Adam Christodoulou has been one of the first drivers to be selected to compete in the brand new McLaren MP4-12C GT3 race car, taking part in the Total 24 Hours at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend in Belgium.

The 12C GT3 is the first race car converted from a McLaren road car to make a 24 hour race debut since the McLaren F1 GTR at Le Mans sixteen years ago, and the welcome return has been long anticipated. Over seventy cars and dozens of manufacturers will be battling out on track to claim the crown at this prestigious 24 hour endurance race.

Also racing in the three McLaren’s this weekend are CRS Racing Team Principal Andrew Kirkaldy and McLaren Automotive Chief Test driver Chris Goodwin. The enterprise is led by McLaren Group CEO Martin Whitmarsh and includes McLaren Racing Head of Vehicle Engineering Mark Williams.

A Director of the new McLaren GT company, Chris Goodwin said: “I’m delighted with the quality of the drivers we have enlisted as we take the 12C GT3 to its first 24 hour race.

„This level of endurance racing is a crucial test for the car technically, and we need the best possible team working with us to ensure we receive intelligent, objective feedback on the 12C GT3 driving experience. We will use this feedback as we continue to develop the car in readiness for customers to go racing next year.“

The race runs from 30th-31st July 2011, starting at 4pm on Saturday, and television coverage will be on Motors TV.

Imola’s world-famous Italian track was the location for the racing action last weekend. A six-hour blitz around one of the most scenic and poignant circuits in motorsport, British racing driver Adam Christodoulou was looking forward to the challenge.

The facilities at the Italian based circuit are world-class, and the track is renowned for it’s enjoyable layout, however a hot and humid testing session was cut short when the weather turned nasty and prevented the team from making critical balance adjustments.

Saturday began with a below-par six-position qualifying (on a 1:46.8 lap), but after reviewing the data and video footage, Christodoulou was confident he could improve on his lap time, and prepared for the main race event.

An over-heating cockpit meant an unexpected penalty just as the car was brought onto the grid, but with no time left to make changes to the insulation before the lights changed, it wasn’t the most promising way to head into the race.

A crowded battle in the first few laps of Christodoulou’s debut at Imola made it an exciting start. The cars ahead were bunched up, and on some of the narrowest parts of the track there were often three abreast through the straights. At the end of the first Christo had managed to muscled up and into 4th place and the car seemed to be handling much better than it had done in practise.

However, when Christodoulou handed over to his team mate, Klass Hummel, the team’s fortune faded quickly, and a tyre blow out brought the car back into the pit lane. Hummel was able to swap his tyres for a fresh set and completed his run, before handing over to third CRS driver, Phil Quaife who was able to claw back some of the time lost in the pits.

Once more Christodoulou took the wheel, and the decision the team had made to try out a different tyre compound seemed to pay off. The car instantly gained stability, and quickly he found himself hot on the heals of the third and fourth placed contenders.

Despite the progress, there was trouble brewing, and race control identified that the cockpit in the car was once again running above the acceptable temperature. Not wishing to be penalised again (or risk disqualification) the team pulled the car back in to the pits for the essential emergency cooling, but the ultimate cost was the race advantage. Back out on track Christodoulou tried to rescue the lost time, but it was too late and the chequered flag placed them in fifth overall.

The result was disheartening for the whole team; it had been yet another race where there had seemed to be a strong chance of a podium result, but unfortunately events had conspired against them, and a much sought-after victory failed to materialise.

The next Le Mans Series race is on British soil at the home motorsport, Silverstone, and happens on September the 9th to 11th. It’s a track that all three drivers know well, and expectations are running high.

Last weekend, British racing driver Adam Christodoulou returned to Germany to take on the challenge of the Nürburgring to compete in the notorious annual 24-hour endurance race.

Arriving on Wednesday, the queues to main entrance were over five miles long, with over 250,000 spectators expected to attend the race which would start on Saturday afternoon. With just short of 250 cars racing at once, the weekend promised non-stop action.

Partnered with Tim Mullen, Phil Quaife and Andreas Montmann in a BMW GT4, Christodoulou began qualifying in rainy conditions, but despite this, managed to post a class-topping lap time of 9:18.4. This also put the team ahead of Darren Turner’s Aston Martin N24, and Guy Smith’s Nissan 370Z, spotted in 56th place overall, and it was decided that due to the good grid position, participating in Qualifying 2 was an unnecessary risk.

The grid was packed for the race start, and with a 25 minute car-push to the end of the pits, the build up to the 4pm start left the atmosphere electric.

For the first time in Christodoulou’s racing experience at Nürburgring, the 25.3Km track was wet and set to be slippery, with a handful of Porsche World Cup cars already having fallen prey to the track surface in the previous race which had taken place just hours earlier.

Starting with full wet tyre options on, Christodoulou put in his first race stint of the day, stopping only to change to more practical intermediate option tyres, but a by-product of this change was a loss of position. At the end of this first two hours the team was 5th place. Now taking the opportunity to rest, Christodoulou took a break and was able to rejoin the race six hours later in an improved fourth place.

As night set in, visibility was much lower but Christodoulou caught the pack of three cars immediately ahead and despite the conditions and yellow-flags, soon battled back into 2nd place.

But the success was short-lived, and while taking one of the fastest corners on the track, the steering suddenly jammed. Taking action quickly he managed to avoid the barriers and grass by slowing the car down just enough to keep it on track.

The power steering had failed, and from this point on things became difficult. Every turn of the wheel required the weight of the driver’s body behind it, and with five long laps ahead until the end of his stint, things were looking bleak.

Despite this disadvantage, Christodoulou powered on past the leading Aston Martin (still gaining around 25 seconds a lap despite the steering problems) before pulling into the pits in the early hours of the morning to handover and take a second well-deserved rest.

The car had been fine apart from the earlier issue, but news soon came of contact on track which had cost the team a few places, and the car had come back into the pits for repairs, with the power steering had been getting progressively worse.

The Bonk Motorsport engineers slaved away for three hours to resuscitate the car, but by this time any chance of salvaging a result was lost entirely, and the decision was made to retire from the event. It was 7am and the team’s race was over.

Commenting on the valiant effort of the team Christodoulou said, „The whole team were great. They put so much effort in getting the car back on track but once it was over we were all gutted. We had the speed and consistency, and had a strong chance of winning the race in out category, but this time it was not to be. The ‚green hell‘ – the Nürburgring 24 hours – got the better of the car.“

„Still the weekend has been an eye opener for me. The big manufacturers and names were racing today, and taking part in this event again is something that I plan on doing next year, and for many years to come“.

Asked about his next race event on the calendar, Christodoulou talked about the Le Mans Series, „I’ll be back in the seat of the CRS Racing team’s Ferrari 430 GT2. We’ll be in North east of Italy at Imola in a 6 hour endurance race where I’ll be gunning for a podium result.“

For live updates from and in the lead up to his races, follow Adam’s progress via Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamchristo