“It’s going to be powerful,” states Jonny Adam. “With 19 automobiles in GT3, good line-ups, the standard I feel has gone up one other stage 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 subject that has no scarcity of significant contenders – together with six earlier champions.
After racing a Mercedes final yr, Adam is again in an Aston Martin, run by sequence newcomer Blackthorn, alongside Giacomo Petrobelli. The closely upgraded Vantage he was integral in growing is, Adam reckons, “for the Ams loads simpler to drive, superb on consistency”. That can assist GT4 graduates Josh Rowledge and Matt Topham acclimatise to GT3 in Blackthorn’s second automotive, entered in Silver-Am.
“In the end, 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’ aspect, it’s going to be loads 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 one more crack together with his Beechdean AMR crew alongside GT3 rookie Jessica Hawkins. “That is my fourth yr with them, so I feel it’s about time I truly 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 feel as soon as I’ve realized my commerce we’re going to be very aggressive.”
Howard reckons his 2023 was “in all probability one of the best Am aspect of racing that we’ve had for fairly a number of years”, however stresses he’s not placing an excessive amount of strain on his new co-driver, whose busy schedule attending grands prix will restrict alternatives to check. “I’ve all the time mentioned it takes two or three years to win a championship,” he says. “Can we count on to win? No. Do we expect we’ve the power to win? In fact we do.”
Beechdean newcomer Hawkins has discovered mileage alternatives restricted aboard Aston’s Evo mannequin resulting from 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 sequence 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 will also 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 aspect 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 performed our analysis on Alex, and I don’t see any purpose 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 may contend for the general championship
A rule change that prohibited Silver-Silver mixtures prompted Collard to deal with Europe in recent times, however he’s again following his reclassification as a Bronze alongside son Ricky, who strikes throughout from the BTCC. Collard Sr joked “possibly not trend or coiffure recommendation” when requested on the media day if he can be joyful to take ideas 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 important factor to race together with your son,” says Collard, who’s retaining cautious on the prospect of turning 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 gradual!”
It’s no shock, due to this fact, that one crew boss predicted that this could possibly be the primary yr {that a} Silver-Am pairing may 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 will likely 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 will likely be a “step up” as he benchmarks himself towards manufacturing unit 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 real looking. However I’ve acquired a wealth of expertise round me so I’m going to be maximising that, giving it my finest shot and seeing the place we find yourself.”
Because the 2021 DTM champion, manufacturing unit Mercedes racer Maximilian Gotz has somewhat extra GT3 expertise than Smalley, however the British GT rookie will defer to 2 Seas co-driver Kevin Tse on circuit information – 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 sequence debut at Oulton in 2021.
“It’s nice to be right here and to see new faces,” smiles Gotz, joyful 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 lots 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 companies of its star driver, who will mix his World Endurance Championship commitments within the manufacturing unit Hypercar crew with hustling alongside Ferguson.
Marciello says “we’ve every little thing, all the assistance we would have liked” from the Bavarian producer because it will get up to the mark with the M4 GT3 and provides: “The crew final yr was their first yr of John working it, so now it’s all settled and for certain it is going to 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 checklist 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 resort bookings, employees, and managing purchasers racing in GT4 on prime of supporting Tillbrook.
“Our pre-event prep is usually a lot cleaner, there’s definitely loads much less stress occurring,” he admits. “The quantity of information they acquire – they’re already a step forward they usually all the time have been final yr. I’m hoping that may carry via 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 unit ace Tom Gamble. Staff 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 bundle.
Gotz is aware of nicely that “in the long run it’s not essential to win each race – it’s by no means occurred”, and that constant points-scoring will likely be key. However that’s not misplaced on anyone else both
“That restricted our testing as a result of with out having the Evo bundle, which was delivered in March, we couldn’t actually do something,” Goff asserts. “Now having understood the Evo bundle, we’ve been capable of work with the drivers and sit up for 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 nicely that “in the long run it’s not essential to win each race – it’s by no means occurred”, and that constant points-scoring will likely be key. However that’s not misplaced on anyone else both. With so many automotive crews scrambling to begin the season on the entrance foot, it would 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 likelihood 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 Staff 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 a number of 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 may also run an Artura for Alex Walker and Blake Angliss and the McLaren 720S GT3 he shares with Mark Smith.
Operating 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 important job and that simply diverts strain away from the crew. If we may give him and Ed a automotive to win, then I’m certain they’ll get the job performed.”
Academy boss Matt Nicoll-Jones, who will share a second Mustang with Will Moore, says the brand new Mustang is the end result of “lots of small adjustments in the proper path” that quantities to “fairly a giant 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 a protracted option to go together with it but”, he hopes that getting into the identical line-ups within the GT4 European sequence will speed up the educational curve.
“We’ve in all probability acquired the strongest pairings we’ve ever had,” Nicoll-Jones provides. “I might 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 Staff Parker squad to race a Mercedes alongside GT Cup graduate Charles Dawson, and 2020 GT4 champion Dan Vaughan seeking to rediscover profitable methods in Speedworks’ Toyota Supra, there isn’t a scarcity of viable contenders among the many 17-car subject.
Evans is searching for to grow to be first driver to defend a GT4 title with revamped Mustang
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Images