Ollie Wilkinson heads to Barcelona this weekend, 9-10 October, aiming to sign-off his first Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS season as a McLaren Factory Driver, with JOTA and team-mates Ben Barnicoat and Rob Bell, on a high note.

The 25-year-old Yorkshireman returns to the Endurance Cup for the first time since he was forced to miss the Nürburgring round due to injuries he sustained in a huge accident during the Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch, just six days prior.

Since then, Wilkinson and Barnicoat once again underlined the JOTA squad’s building pace and increasing podium potential, equalling their season best fourth-place Sprint Cup finish in Valencia two weeks ago.

It was, however, another weekend of what could have been, as Wilkinson was knocked out of second place and a near-certain podium with 10 minutes of race one remaining – just three weeks after he was hit out of the race lead and over the circuit barriers on his home Sprint Cup event.

Although another disappointment to their 2021 campaign, Wilkinson, Barnicoat and Bell return to competition drawing inspiration from their last Endurance Cup result and season-best Total Energies 24 Hours of Spa performance. There, the JOTA trio took the #38 McLaren 720S GT3 to run as high as second before securing an impressive seventh-place finish in challenging conditions in the Ardennes Forest.

The full quota of McLaren Factory Drivers are back in action this weekend, seeking to end their inaugural year of competition with their best Endurance Cup finish yet. For Wilkinson, it’s a return to the circuit where he first raced a GT3 car and claimed his maiden Pro-Am podium on his 2017 International GT Open debut, and a second place in Audi machinery the following year.

The JOTA crew will get preparations underway in Spain during testing on Friday, ahead of Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Saturday. Grid positions for the final Endurance Cup outing of the year will be set in Qualifying, from 09:00 on Saturday morning. The GT World Challenge Europe three-hour season finale starts at 15:00 on Sunday (all times CEST).

Find the provisional schedule below and make sure you’re following Ollie’s social media channels for the latest news and updates.

Endurance Cup, Barcelona – Provisional Schedule

Saturday, October 9th
09:00 – Free Practice (90 mins) Watch live
13:40 – Pre-Qualifying (90 mins) Watch live

Sunday, October 10th
09:00 – Qualifying (3 x 15 mins) Watch live
15:00 – Race (3 hours) Watch live
All times CEST.