Photo Above: Britishgt.com
Stratford-upon-Avon-based In2Racing has announced that it will contest the 2017 British GT Championship with a pair of McLaren 570S GT4s, a car which had its debut season last year.
The driver pairing of Gareth Howell and Richard Marsh has been confirmed for the first of In2Racing’s line-ups for the forthcoming season.
Gareth Howell has extensive experience in the McLaren 570 due to his duties as official development driver with McLaren Automotive. Although he has many miles under his belt in the road-going car, he has, however, only sampled the GT4 version.
“I hadn’t shut the door on racing but certainly it wasn’t something I was chasing either” said Howell. “Richard and I raced together in 2000 but met again by chance a couple of years ago. We stayed in touch, just chatting about motorsport really. We would idly discuss racing together but it wasn’t until he tested the car and spoke with In2Racing that the opportunity to actually do it became more realistic.”
“I travel a lot in the week with my day job so I wouldn’t be doing this unless I thought the team, Richard and I could be competitive and build a proper Pro/Am partnership,” continued Howell. “I’m new to GT racing but, from what I’ve heard, you’re only as competitive as your Am. Fortunately I see a lot of potential in Richard.
Richard Marsh has a racing career stretching back to 2002 and has previously raced in the British GT Championship in 2008. Marsh is looking forward to the opportunities that the McLaren 570S GT4 and racing with In2acing and Gareth Howell will offer.
“The McLaren looks like that car to have this year and it’s also an iconic brand, so this is an ideal opportunity for me to go racing properly again, said Marsh. “I certainly didn’t want to do it half-heartedly and having Gareth with me proves that. We’re a proper Pro/Am pairing and although he’s been out if racing for a while he’ll no doubt be one of the class benchmarks this year.”
The season-opening Oulton Park round of the 2017 British GT Championship takes place on April 15 – 17.
