“It’s going to be robust,” states Jonny Adam. “With 19 vehicles in GT3, good line-ups, the standard I believe has gone up one other degree from final yr. And there’s good returning groups that know their baseline of the place they need to be.”
With Darren Leung, one half of Century Motorsport’s 2023 victorious pairing, switching to the worldwide scene, the trail is open for a brand new mixture to grab the initiative within the British GT Championship, which kicks off this weekend at Oulton Park. However, as four-time champion Adam attests, any would-be title-winner must see off a stacked discipline that has no scarcity of great contenders – together with six earlier champions.
After racing a Mercedes final yr, Adam is again in an Aston Martin, run by collection newcomer Blackthorn, alongside Giacomo Petrobelli. The closely upgraded Vantage he was integral in creating is, Adam reckons, “for the Ams rather a lot simpler to drive, excellent on consistency”. That may assist GT4 graduates Josh Rowledge and Matt Topham acclimatise to GT3 in Blackthorn’s second automotive, entered in Silver-Am.
“Finally, underneath the pores and skin of it, it drives like a brand new automotive,” explains Adam, who factors out that he received on his first outings with TF Sport (2016) and Optimum (2018). “Hopefully from the Ams’ facet, it’s going to be rather a lot simpler for them to get nearer to the lap time of the Execs.”
Andrew Howard received each of his titles alongside Adam in 2013 and 2015, and is again for an additional crack along with his Beechdean AMR crew alongside GT3 rookie Jessica Hawkins. “That is my fourth yr with them, so I believe it’s about time I really acquired to race one!” Aston Martin model ambassador Hawkins quipped at media day. “I’ve acquired a lot to be taught, I’m very conscious of that, however I believe as soon as I’ve discovered my commerce we’re going to be very aggressive.”
Howard reckons his 2023 was “most likely the most effective Am facet of racing that we’ve had for fairly a number of years”, however stresses he’s not placing an excessive amount of stress on his new co-driver, whose busy schedule attending grands prix will restrict alternatives to check. “I’ve all the time stated it takes two or three years to win a championship,” he says. “Will we count on to win? No. Do we expect we have now the flexibility to win? After all we do.”
Beechdean newcomer Hawkins has discovered mileage alternatives restricted aboard Aston’s Evo mannequin as a result of busy ambassadorial schedule with F1 crew
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Remaining within the 2 Seas Mercedes crew, Ian Loggie is hoping to recapture a title he received in 2022 and is alongside Phil Eager, making a welcome return to the collection after a one-off outing with Loggie at Portimao final season. An eleventh-hour deal for Leung’s 2023 team-mate Dan Harper to defend his title aboard a Century-run BMW M4 alongside Michael Johnston, the Northern Irishman stepping in for GT4 Professional-Am champion Chris Salkeld, means Nathan Freke’s squad can be anticipated to shine.
And at Barwell Motorsport there are two champions within the fold, with 2020 winners Sandy Mitchell and Rob Collard on both facet of the storage, veteran Collard again for the primary time since he partnered the now Lamborghini factory ace as an all-Silver pairing. Mitchell has his third completely different co-driver in as a few years after race-winning campaigns with Adam Balon and Shaun Balfe, however crew boss Mark Lemmer is quietly assured that ex-British Touring Automotive racer Alex Martin will show successful.
“We’ve achieved our analysis on Alex, and I don’t see any motive why he’s not going to be aggressive from the phrase go,” he says. “Something that he must be taught, he’ll be taught fairly shortly from Sandy.”
One crew boss predicted that this could possibly be the primary yr {that a} Silver-Am pairing might contend for the general championship
A rule change that prohibited Silver-Silver mixtures prompted Collard to deal with Europe lately, however he’s again following his reclassification as a Bronze alongside son Ricky, who strikes throughout from the BTCC. Collard Sr joked “possibly not vogue or coiffure recommendation” when requested on the media day if he could be completely happy to take suggestions from the mulleted Ricky, with whom he received the Professional-Am class on the 2020 Spa 24 Hours. However Lemmer expects that the Collards will “be a benchmark pairing”.
“As a father it’s an awesome factor to race along with your son,” says Collard, who’s protecting cautious on the prospect of changing into the primary father-son pair to win the title since Jim and Glynn Geddie in 2011. “He’s fairly quick – we maybe wouldn’t be doing it if he was sluggish!”
It’s no shock, subsequently, that one crew boss predicted that this could possibly be the primary yr {that a} Silver-Am pairing might contend for the general championship.
Rob Collard is again in British GT for the primary time since he received the 2020 title alongside son Ricky
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Images
New faces in unfamiliar locations
Hawkins isn’t the one driver for whom pitstops shall be new. Reigning Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Adam Smalley has joined Storage 59 alongside 2019 title contender Shaun Balfe, who’s again aboard a McLaren 720S after a yr with Lamborghini. Unused to racing for longer than half-hour, Smalley recognises that British GT shall be a “step up” as he benchmarks himself in opposition to manufacturing facility weapons.
“GT racing is the place to be for younger drivers like me in the mean time,” the 23-year-old reckons. And naturally, he’s not limiting his ambition to Silver-Am success. “The dream is to win the title,” provides Smalley. “I’m additionally life like. However I’ve acquired a wealth of expertise round me so I’m going to be maximising that, giving it my greatest shot and seeing the place we find yourself.”
Because the 2021 DTM champion, manufacturing facility Mercedes racer Maximilian Gotz has moderately extra GT3 expertise than Smalley, however the British GT rookie will defer to 2 Seas co-driver Kevin Tse on circuit data – he has by no means beforehand visited Oulton Park or Snetterton. Gotz, the 2013 Spa 24 Hours winner and 2014 Blancpain Dash Cup champion, is eagerly anticipating his first season of racing in Britain alongside Macanese Tse, a winner on his collection debut at Oulton in 2021.
“It’s nice to be right here and to see new faces,” smiles Gotz, completely happy to be already requested to signal autographs by educated British followers. And the German, who raced with the Bahraini-flagged crew in final yr’s Gulf 12 Hours and is aware of most of the squad’s employees from his time at Strakka in 2018, has one other ace up his sleeve. Works colleague Jules Gounon, who partnered Loggie for the previous two years, has pledged his help within the type of onboard movies: “I must provide you with velocity shortly and he’ll assist me.”
Different contenders
Darkish horses are in plentiful provide too. Actually, any line-up that includes Raffaele Marciello can’t be discounted. John Ferguson’s RAM Racing crew switches from Mercedes to BMW and has retained the providers of its star driver, who will mix his World Endurance Championship commitments within the manufacturing facility Hypercar crew with hustling alongside Ferguson.
Marciello says “we have now the whole lot, all the assistance we would have liked” from the Bavarian producer because it will get on top of things with the M4 GT3 and provides: “The crew final yr was their first yr of John operating it, so now it’s all settled and for positive will probably be higher” than a 2023 marketing campaign that yielded one win at Snetterton.
Gotz will look to use DTM and Blancpain title-winning experience to British GT as he joins Tse at 2 Seas
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Marcus Clutton and Morgan Tillbrook have been race winners in 2021 and 2022 with their very own Enduro Motorsport squad, which was shuttered over the winter. Now at Storage 59, Clutton’s record of duties has diminished significantly, whereas he additionally has entry to knowledge from a second automotive, a luxurious not current at his personal operation, the place he additionally needed to fear about lodge bookings, employees, and managing shoppers racing in GT4 on high of supporting Tillbrook.
“Our pre-event prep is usually a lot cleaner, there’s actually rather a lot much less stress occurring,” he admits. “The quantity of knowledge they gather – they’re already a step forward they usually all the time have been final yr. I’m hoping that may carry by into our outcomes.”
Fellow McLaren racer Mark Radcliffe has taken within the full Asian Le Mans Sequence with Optimum, scoring two podiums, and received his class within the Gulf 12 Hours to arrange for his second season of British GT, now paired with manufacturing facility ace Tom Gamble. Workforce boss Shaun Goff, whose equipe snared the 2018 crown with Adam and Flick Haigh, feels that each Radcliffe and Optimum are a lot better ready for what’s the second yr of the 720S’s Evo package deal.
Gotz is aware of effectively that “in the long run it’s not essential to win each race – it’s by no means occurred”, and that constant points-scoring shall be key. However that’s not misplaced on anyone else both
“That restricted our testing as a result of with out having the Evo package deal, which was delivered in March, we couldn’t actually do something,” Goff asserts. “Now having understood the Evo package deal, we’ve been in a position to work with the drivers and look ahead to hitting Oulton Park with a totally ready crew.”
And so to a double-header spherical that Howard labels “a complete lottery”. “Profitable championships – particularly British GT – isn’t about being the quickest at Oulton,” he says. “It’s about being constant and accumulating factors.”
Gotz is aware of effectively that “in the long run it’s not essential to win each race – it’s by no means occurred”, and that constant points-scoring shall be key. However that’s not misplaced on anyone else both. With so many automotive crews scrambling to start out the season on the entrance foot, it’s going to make for unmissable viewing.
Tight and twisty Oulton will pose vital challenges to groups as they navigate visitors
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Images
GT4: Artura versus Mustang spherical two?
The McLaren Artura was instantly aggressive on its arrival in British GT final season. Optimum Motorsport pair Jack Brown and Charles Clark had a mathematical probability of clinching the GT4 title with two races to spare, just for luck to abandon them throughout the ultimate three races, whereas a purple patch for Academy Motorsport drivers Erik Evans and Matt Cowley snatched away the crown on the swansong for the outgoing model of the Ford Mustang.
Whereas Clark pursues GT3 alternatives, Brown will search to make amends with Optimum after his Silver title comfort prize. He’s joined by 17-year-old Zac Meakin, who impressed crew boss Shaun Goff in testing after racing a Workforce Parker-run Artura final yr and contesting the GT4 Winter Sequence in Elite Motorsport’s instance.
“The general championship is what we have been there to do [in 2023], so we’re hoping to place that proper this yr,” states Goff. “We’ve acquired the identical core crew engaged on the automotive and we’ve refined among the niggly points which eluded us final yr.”
Evans will bid for a second successive title with Academy’s new Mustang alongside Marco Signoretti, whereas Cowley will do likewise aboard a Paddock Motorsport Mercedes shared with Ed McDermott, entered in Professional-Am. That deal got here collectively “fairly late within the low season” for Paddock boss Martin Plowman, whose crew can even run an Artura for Alex Walker and Blake Angliss and the McLaren 720S GT3 he shares with Mark Smith.
Working three completely different fashions of automotive presents a number of complications for Plowman, who has employed employees from the disbanded Enduro Motorsport crew and reshuffled his GT4 deck, with revered engineer Simon Pollock now overseeing the Artura.
“It’s been flat-out for the final 4 weeks getting the Merc programme sorted,” reveals Plowman, who has full confidence in Cowley. “There’s no doubts that he’s going to do an awesome job and that simply diverts stress away from the crew. If we may give him and Ed a automotive to win, then I’m positive they’ll get the job achieved.”
Academy boss Matt Nicoll-Jones, who will share a second Mustang with Will Moore, says the brand new Mustang is the fruits of “lots of small modifications in the proper route” that quantities to “fairly an enormous change total”. He reckons it has “much more scope for adjustment”, and praises the ergonomic enhancements that make it “much more comfy” for drivers. Whereas admitting “we’ve acquired an extended method to go along with it but”, he hopes that coming into the identical line-ups within the GT4 European collection will speed up the training curve.
“We’ve most likely acquired the strongest pairings we’ve ever had,” Nicoll-Jones provides. “I’d hope that we ought to be there or thereabouts.”
With GT Winter champions Jamie Day and Mikey Porter searching for to proceed their momentum in a Forsetti Motorsport Aston Martin, 2017 GT3 champion Seb Morris reuniting with the Workforce Parker squad to race a Mercedes alongside GT Cup graduate Charles Dawson, and 2020 GT4 champion Dan Vaughan seeking to rediscover successful methods in Speedworks’ Toyota Supra, there is no such thing as a scarcity of viable contenders among the many 17-car discipline.
Evans is searching for to turn out to be first driver to defend a GT4 title with revamped Mustang
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Images