The British GT Championship has published its full-season entry list for 2019 at its pre-season Media Day at Donington Park, revealing a record 38-car grid across the GT3 and GT4 classes.
15 cars will context the GT3 class with the Aston-Martin brand being the manufacturer with the largest presence. Four new Aston Martin Vantage GT3s will be on the grid with two being entered by TF Sport, one by Beechdean AMR and one by Optimum Motorsport. BMW, Mercedes-AMG, Bentley and Lamborghini are all represented by two entries apiece. Century Motorsport are campaigning a pair of BMW M6 GT3s, RAM Racing and Team ABBA Racing have both entered a Mercedes-AMG GT3, Team Parker Racing has a single new-generation Bentley Continental GT3 and, as was announced on March 4, JRM Racing has a further Bentley Continental GT3, to be driven by 2017 GT3 champions Rick Parfitt Jnr and Seb Morris.
Barwell Motorsport returns to the GT3 grid with two Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evos while the Porsche marque makes a return to the British GT Championship with two entries – a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry in the GTC Class from WPI Motorsport and a 911 GT3 R, believed to be the first in the UK, from G-Cat Racing.
The GT4 grid features 23 cars from currently eight manufacturers – the #89 Steller Performance entry having not yet declared its car. Aston Martin is the most popular marque in the GT4 class with seven examples, Academy Motorsport, TF Sport and Optimum Motorsport having entered two apiece and Beechdean AMR one. There are five McLaren 570S GT4s entered with Tolman Motorsports and HHC Motorsport both having entered two and Balfe Motorsport one.
Ford is represented by three Ford Mustang GT4s with Multimatic Motorsports having entered two and RACE Performance a third. There will be a single KTM X-Bow GT4 on the grid this season, courtesy of Track Focused.
Century Motorsport returns with its pair of BMW M4 GT4s while Team Parker Racing and Fox Motorsport have both entered Mercedes-AMG GT4s.
Invictus Games Racing has returned for 2019 with a single Jaguar F-TYPE SVR GT4, to be driven by Matthew George and either Steve McCulley or Paul Vice.
Porsche is represented in the GT4 category by GT Marques and its 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.
Benjamin Franassovici, General Manager of the British GT Championship, is delighted at the entry list for the new season.
“The response from existing and new teams and drivers has once again surpassed our expectations,” said Franassovici. “We previously limited ourselves to a maximum of 36 full-season entries but the unprecedented level of demand since registration opened last October has required us to re-evaluate.
“GT4 remains as popular as ever and I’m delighted to welcome so many new teams, drivers and cars. Greater capacity would have seen us break 2018’s class records, but we should still be extremely pleased to have matched the same number of entries and manufacturers. In any case, we will undoubtedly see more race-by-race entries as the season progresses.
“Likewise GT3 where we have one more full-season entry than last year. However, it’s the abundance of new models that has impressed and excited me the most. Investment like this demonstrates our teams’ commitment to and belief in British GT, as well as again proving GT3 and GT4’s status as the most suitable platforms for amateur, young and professional drivers alike.”
The British GT Championship season opens at Oulton Park on April 20 – 22.
