British GT: Class Wars

by Leanne Fahy on March 10th, 2010

By Leanne Fahy

It’s that time of year again. Yes that’s right, it’s March and that can only mean one thing – engines are being fired up, drivers are signing their lives away for another year behind the wheel, and we’re all getting ready to spend every living minute trackside.

British GT is back for another year in 2010 and with the revamped format and class structure for this year, it’s looking decidedly positive.

This year sees the birth of the new-for-2010 G4 category, which combines homologated GT4 cars with Supersports machines. So, here’s the break down of the G4 and GTC classes. To start with, it’s now common knowledge that the GTC (GT Cup) class has made a come back for 2010. This cost-effective category has been reinstated to make the series more appealing to teams and drivers, which will hopefully revive the championship after a difficult 2009 season of low entry numbers.

The G4 class of the highly competitive British GT Championship that we have come to know and love, has been born from the embers from the now defunct, GT4 category. To give the Ginetta G50 machines some much-needed competition after a dominant couple of years in GT4, the KTM X-BOW and Lotus 2Eleven have been granted full access to this year’s championship.

The distinctive KTM XBow figures to be a featured contender in the British GT Championship's revamped G4 category.

With G4 becoming increasingly popular in Europe, more and more marques have made their way into the category in various other GT series across different continental countries. This means that the allowance for a wider range of manufacturers to contest this grouping has grown, which will hopefully result in a more diverse entry of cars in British GT G4 class this year. There are currently thirteen different marques that are eligible for the category, including Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ford, Ginetta, Lotus, Porsche, KTM, Donkervoort, Gillet, Nissan, Maserati and Opel.

Piranha Motorsport have immediately taken advantage of the new regulations, and have announced their plans to run a Lotus 2Eleven in G4 this year, piloted by Chris Bialan and Simon Mason. Speedworks Motorsport and ABG Motorsport have followed suit by also joining the G4 class in 2010. Speedworks team principle and co-founder, Christian Dick will be driving their Ginetta G50, accompanied by Jamie Stanley. ABG Motorsport will field a KTM X-Bow, with Rory Butcher and Benjamin Harvey behind the wheel. Speedwork’s G50 will be accompanied by at least three other similar Ginettas, with entries coming from Team Osbourne Racing and Team GCR to name a few.

Speedworks, Team Osbourne, GCR and others are banking on the Ginetta G50 continuing its GT4 dominance in G4.

The above machinery will have some fierce competition during the season, with ProMotorsport expected to run a Nissan 350z, and RJN Motorsport taking up the challenge of fielding a comparable car later in the year.

At the moment there is expected to be around seven G4 entrants on the grid at the opening round of the series at Oulton Park on Easter Weekend, with more competitors set to join the Championship as the year progresses.

Despite a two year absence from the British GT Championship, GTC is hoping to bring back some familiar names to the sport, with both the Porsche 997 Carrera Cup and Ferrari F430 Challenge cars being granted eligibility to contest the category. The low number of entrants in the Championship was definitely obvious last season, with Porsche being one of the stand-out marques missing from the series. This year is set to spark a renaissance in the UK’s leading SuperCar series, with the Porsche and Ferrari names reviving their GT rivalry.

As the 2010 British GT Season media launch day looms, drivers and teams are readying themselves for any last minute announcements, launches and testing, all set to take place within the coming weeks. With the infamous first round of the series kicking off Easter weekend at Oulton Park, the countdown is most definitely on. All that’s left to do is to wait for those five red lights to diminish in Cheshire in three weeks time, and listen to the collective sound of many thousands of horsepower rounding Old Hall.

Heaven.