Chilton brothers team up for Silverstone.

Sixteen year old Max Chilton is to make his Le Mans Series debut alongside his brother Tom in the latest round of the championship at Silverstone.

Piloting the LMP1 Arena-prepared Zytek 07S that Tom has been racing between his commitments in the British Touring Car Championship, Max is set to experience a major step up in competition having only made his car racing debut this year racing in British Formula 3.

Nonetheless, the elder Chilton claims he was stunned by his brother's pace during a recent test at Paul Ricard, the VX Racing driver claiming he was getting to within half a second his best laps around the French circuit.

"Max is ready for this. We tested at Paul Ricard recently and he was awesome on new tyres and consistently getting within half a second me. If he hadn't done a good job at Paul Ricard we wouldn't have entered this race," Tom said.

"He's a very fast, professional driver and his pace in the test, particularly on fresh tyres, had even me surprised.

"All his karting experience and the racing he does in British F3 will mean he's well-prepared, particularly in terms of race fitness. I don't think he'll find an 80-minute double stint too much problem at all. The only bit he'll need to work on is coming up on much slower cars and dealing with them efficiently. Above all, if he does a good job then this is a great opportunity for him to become recognised."

It is a partnership Tom is keen to expand in the future, admitting he would like to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours with Max if he could.

"We'd love to race together as team-mates in the Le Mans 24 Hours. I'm really excited we're sharing a car at Silverstone and it's probably a taster to see how we do for the future," Tom added.

"At the test at Paul Ricard I really felt that we and Arena made a breakthrough with the car. We've really got on top of the handling and I think we'll be a match for anyone through the corners at Silverstone. The straights are a different matter, though. We've got less engine capacity and, when I did the Nurburgring race, it felt like the Peugeots had another 100bhp.

"We had the Zytek on the front row in qualifying at Nurburgring but then had mechanical problems in the race. So the number one aim at Silverstone is for a trouble-free run and then we'd like to beat the Pescarolos. A place on the podium is possible."