Photo: BritishGT.com
The 2017 British GT Championship enters its final round with a two-hour race for Round Ten at Donington Park, Castle Donington, Derby on Sunday September 24.
The British GT season has witnessed some great racing across both classes with the championship visiting iconic circuits such as Brands Hatch GP, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone and Snetterton.
The entry list for the final round has some changes from the grid we saw last time out at Brands Hatch.
JRM Advanced Engineering Ltd joins the GT3 grid with the its #08 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 driven by Spa GT4 winner Charlie Fagg and Ben Green.
The #19 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT3 of Ben Tuck and Tom Hibbert is missing from the Donington grid. Instead Ben Tuck joins Century Motorsport team owner Nathan Freke in the #69 Ginetta G55 GT3.
The #26 Mike Brown Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, piloted at Brands Hatch by Mike Brown and Matt Manderson, is not entered for Donington.
The #14 McLaren 570S GT4, driven at Brands Hatch by Will Goff and Daniel McKay, is entered for the final round but drivers have yet to be declared for the car.
The #36 Autoaid/RCIB Insuranec Racing Ginetta G55 GT4, driven at Brands Hatch by Benjamin Wallace and Adam Hatfield, is piloted for Round Ten by Jake Giddings and, returning to the British GT Championship for the first time since the final round of 2016 where she piloted the Ebor GT Maserati GT MC GT4 alongside Marcus Hoggarth, is Abbie Eaton.
The #89 Rob Boston Racing Ginetta G55 GT4, driven at Brands Hatch by Jason Baker and Adam Gore, is not entered for Donington.
Leading the GT3 drivers standings is the #31 Team Parker Racing Ltd Bentley Continental GT3 duo of Rick Parfitt and Seb Morris. With victories at Rockingham, Silverstone and at Brands Hatch in the previous round, Parfitt and Morris are on a charge but are taking nothing for granted with the #33 Barwell Motorsport pairing of Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen just 10.5 points behind them.
With a pitstop penalty for success at Brands Hatch, Parfitt is wary of considering Morris and himself champions just yet.
“Those extra 20 seconds really hurt our chances, plus if Jon and Phil win there’s nothing much we can do anyway,” said Parfitt. “If it’s a straight fight then maybe it’s a different story, but we really are relying on others to beat them or a Safety Car to negate the penalty. Them finishing second gives us more of a chance but 20 seconds is still a lot for us to recover. And if it rains…well, we’ve already seen several times this year just how good Jon, Phil and the Lambo are in those conditions.”
“I think they start as favourites.”
In GT4 the #44 HHC Motorsport Ginetta G55 pairing of Stuart Middleton and William Tregurtha go into the final round as favourites for the drivers title. After a podium finish at Brands Hatch, Middleton and Tregurtha have a 25-point advantage over second-placed Alex Reed and David Pittard in the #51 Lanan Racing Ginetta.
Track action for the British GT grid begins on Saturday September 24 at 09:40 for FP1. Qualifying begins at 16:25 with the lights going out for Round Ten of the 2017 Championship at 13:30.
If you’re an enthusiast of GT racing, this promises to be an event you will not want to miss.