SMP's new BR Engineering LMP2 car to miss ELMS opener
The new BR Engineering LMP2 coupe will be absent from the opening round of the European Le Mans Series at Silverstone on April 11
It has been decided by sister company SMP Racing to delay the introduction of the new Nissan-powered BR01, which ran for the first time at Paul Ricard last Sunday, until round two of the series at Imola in May.
That means Russian entrant SMP's drivers will race last year's ORECA 03s at the Silverstone ELMS opener, which supports the first round of the World Endurance Championship.
The cars will be entered under the banner of AF Corse, which ran its WEC P2 campaign last year, for contractual reasons.
SMP Racing team boss Benjamin Durand told AUTOSPORT: "When we homologate the car, its specification will be fixed for three years [by regulation], so we have to get it right.
"There is no point going racing until we are ready; we have a lot of testing planned because we have a lot of catching up to do."
The BRE coupe was delayed as a result of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia.
The car was unveiled at the official ELMS test day at Paul Ricard at the beginning of last week, but wasn't ready to run.
SMP, which won the WEC LMP2 title last year with AF, has stepped down into the ELMS to develop its new car and will run its two entries from its own premises near Nice.
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