The official launch of the 2007 Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Silverstone saw the entry list for the season announced, with a strong lineup of cars and drivers for the coming season which starts this weekend at Oulton Park.
The new GT3 class, which will produce the overall 2007 British GT Champion, which will feature eight different manufacturers, with another two, Jaguar and Morgan, due to compete later in the season and this promises to be the most closely fought championship for many years.
Barwell Motorsport will be looking to add the team title to the GT3 drivers crown it won with Leo Machitski in 2006 and will field three Aston Martin DBRS9’s , including a bio fuel powered car for Paul Drayson and 2004 British GT champion Jonathan Cocker. Reigning GT3 team champions Lotus will also be fielding three of the diminutive Sports Exige GT3’s and 2007 promises to be a resumption of the classic David versus Goliath battles that were seen last season between the 1.8-litre four cylinder Exige and the 6-litre V12 powered Aston Martin’s.
2002 British GT Champion Tommy Erdos is teaming up with Stephen Keating for a second assault on the British GT crown with the Damax prepared Ascari KZ1R. Erdos, who won the 2002 title with Ian McKellar Jnr in a GT1 Saleen, went on to win the Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 title with MG Lola in 2005. A second Damax Ascari is will also be competing full season with Jimmy Brodie, with the name of his co-driver to be announced ahead of the first round after Luke Hines was released by the team to race a GT1 Corvette in the FIA GT Championship. A third Damax Ascari is due to compete in selected rounds starting at Donington Park next month.
However there will be plenty of opposition from other quarters this season. Team RPM are entering two Dodge Vipers, one in the capable hands of GTC race winners Alex Mortimer and Bradley Ellis, who have been extremely quick in preseason testing, and a pair of Porsche 997’s. A Porsche 997 will also be run by FIA GT3 champions Tech9, with the Liverpool based team returning full time to the British GT championship this season with race winners Oliver Bryant and Matt Harris. Front running Britcar team Moore Racing is moving up to British GT and is entering a V10 powered Dodge Viper for Paul Fenton and Mike Gardiner.
A pair of Ferrari 430 GT3’s will also contest the 2007 championship, with Phil Burton and Adam Wilcox in the VRS Motor Finance entered car and the other driven by Hector Lester and Allan Simonsen. However Simonsen will miss the opening two races of the season due to a trip to Australia and Lester will be joined by fellow Ulsterman and reigning British GT Champion Tim Mullen for the Oulton Park meeting.
The 7-litre V8 powered Mosler MT900R will contest the British championship in the hands of Craig and Elliot Cole for Eclipse Motorsport. And finally Team Modena are entering a pair of Lamborghini Gallardos, however delays have forced the team to revide their plans and the first one will now appear at Donington Park later this month with Antonio Garcia at the wheel and a second car will make its debut later in the season.
Last season the GTC class saw plenty of action and while this year the grids will be smaller, the quality of the cars involved will mean this class will be just as hotly contested. The Team Aero Morgan of Keith Ahlers will be back looking for the top step of the podium that eluded the team in 2006.
Beechdean Motorsport, who had a good first season in British GT, will be entering a Ferrari 360 Modena for team owner Andrew Howard and highly experienced GT racer Aaron Scott. The teams second Ferrari is ready to race and may enter the championship later in the season. David Dove is also competing this year in a Ferrari 360 and will compete against the likes of the Richmond Racing Ginetta G20 of Nick Marsh and Richard Hollebon and the RSS Performance Porsche 996 of Graeme Mundy and Jamie Smyth.
The opening round of the 2007 Avon Tyres British GT Championship takes place at Oulton Park on Saturday 7th April at 17:20, with the second 60-minute race on Monday 9th April at 14:00.
The 2007 season will be held over 14 rounds at 8 meetings all in the UK, with 2-hour feature races being held at Snetterton in June and Silverstone in August. British GT will line up alongside the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series at all of these meetings, which will also include a action packed support race programme which will feature UK Formula Ford, Caterhams, Ginettas and the Volkswagen Racing Cup.
# Team Driver Driver Car CL 1 Barwell Motorsport Paul Drayson Jonny Cocker Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3 2 Barwell Motorsport Tom Alexander Michael Bentwood Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3 3 Barwell Motorsport Guy Harrington Ben de Zille Butler Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3 4 Team 4Car with confused.com Fergus Campbell Mark Cole Porsche 997 GT3 GT3 5 Team RPM Henry Fletcher James Saggers Viper Competition Coupe GT3 6 Team RPM Alex Mortimer Bradley Ellis Viper Competition Coupe GT3 7 Team RPM Nick Foster Nigel Redwood Porsche 997 GT3 GT3 8 Team RPM Peter Bamford Matt Griffin Porsche 997 GT3 GT3 9 Tech 9 Oliver Bryant Matt Harris Porsche 997 GT3 GT3 10 Damax James Brodie TBA Ascari KZ1R GT3 11 Damax Thomas Erdos Stephen Keating Ascari KZ1R GT3 12 VRS Motor Finance Phil Burton Adam Wilcox Ferrari 430 GT3 GT3 14 Trackspeed David Ashburn Ryan Hooker Porsche 997 GT3 GT3 17 Moore Racing Mike Gardiner Paul Fenton Viper Competition Coupe GT3 19 Lotus Sport Cadena Barrie Whight Gavan Kershaw Sport Exige GT3 GT3 22 Team Eurotech - Preci Spark David Jones Godfrey Jones Ascari KZ1R GT3 23 Christians in Motorsport Hector Lester Tim Mullen Ferrari 430 GT3 GT3 40 Brookspeed Neil Cunningham James Littlejohn Viper Competition Coupe GT3 44 Eclipse Craig Cole Elliot Cole Mosler MT900 GT3 50 Team Aero Racing Keith Ahlers Steve Hyde Morgan Aero 8 GT GTC 54 RSS Performance Graeme Mundy Jamie Smyth Porsche 996 GT3 GTC 70 David Dove David Dove Ferrari 360 Modena GTC 81 Team Tiger Chris Beighton Jon Finnemore Marcos Mantis GTC 88 Richmond Racing Nick Marsh Richard Hollebon Ginetta G20 GTR GTC 99 Beechdean Motorsport Andrew Howard Aaron Scott Ferrari 360 Modena GTC
