Walkinshaw returns to GT World Challenge Europe for 2022
Sean Walkinshaw will return to competing in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for 2022 following his exit from SUPER GT.
Photo by: SRO
Walkinshaw will share a Madpanda Motorsport-run Mercedes-AMG GT3, contesting the Silver Cup class alongside touring car convert Dusan Borkovic and one other to-be-named driver.
It follows the news that Toyota Team Thailand, for which Walkinshaw had driven since 2019, is suspending its operations in SUPER GT for the 2022 season.
"I'm really looking forward to driving for Madpanda Motorsport this season," said Walkinshaw. "They have had tremendous success in only a few years since it was formed and I'm excited to see what this season will bring. It will also be nice to be back racing in Europe after five seasons in SUPER GT!"
Walkinshaw, the younger son of legendary British racer and team owner Tom Walkinshaw, last raced full-time in what was then known as the Blancpain GT Series in 2016 for the RJN Nissan squad.
He then embarked on a five-season stint in SUPER GT in 2017, partnering Shinichi Takagi at the wheel of an ARTA BMW M6 GT3 that season and finishing runner-up in the GT300 class the following year.
Shinichi Takagi, Sean Walkinshaw, #55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
Walkinshaw joined Team Thailand in 2019, but in three seasons he failed to score a point driving the team's Lexus RC F GT3. Last year, he was partnered in the squad by now-TOM'S Toyota GT500 racer Giuliano Alesi.
In between his SUPER GT duties, Walkinshaw still made sporadic Blancpain GT outings up until 2019, his last outing coming the Sprint Cup finale at Barcelona that year in a WRT-run Audi R8 LMS.
Borkovic meanwhile makes the move to GT racing after a number of years of racing touring cars, most notably contesting the 2014 WTCC season in a Campos Racing Chevrolet Cruze.
The 6'9'' Serb joined Proteam Racing in a Honda Civic the following year but withdrew from the series during the second round in Marrakesh due to a dispute with the team concerning his inability to fit inside the car.
Since then, he has largely raced TCR machinery, although he earned a ban from the TCR Europe paddock in 2019 following a paddock altercation with another driver at the Red Bull Ring.
Dusan Borkovic, Target Competition Hyundai i30 N TCR
Photo by: TCR media
Madpanda will confirm its third driver for the five-round Endurance Cup ahead of the opening round at Imola next month. It is unclear whether team founder Ezequiel Perez Companc will continue as a driver or opt to step back.
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