LUXURY CARS DON’T JUST FEATURE AT DONINGTON PARK, THEY RACE THERE TOO!
This weekend’s Unipart F3/GT Festival at Donington Park (21/22 April) puts luxury cars back where they belong, racing at breathtaking speeds on the historical track in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship.
Derby’s Guy Harrington will be racing at the Leicestershire track in only his second round of the endurance championship and the 20-year-old cannot wait to show what he and team-mate Ben De Zille Butler can do around his favourite circuit.
“I love the atmosphere at Donington Park, it’s a great setting,” said Harrington who drives an Aston Martin DBRS9 just like James Bond. “The circuit is quite hilly which makes it so much more interesting than other tracks that can be a bit flat. I’m looking forward to Craner Curves the most, it’s the fastest part of the circuit and racing there in the Aston Martin is going to be amazing.”
Only metres away from the on-track action, the Donington Park Collection reminds fans that modern motorsport has its foundations in endurance racing. After the initial city-to-city races were banned on safety grounds in the 1920s, circuit racing was born and the endurance category lived on through GT as will be seen at Donington Park this weekend.
Visitors to the museum, which holds the largest collection of Grand Prix cars in the world, can see one of the original Mercedes GP cars from 1903, an ancestor of the racing class as seen on-track in the British GT Championship. In addition, many incarnations of the Lotus and Ferrari race cars which will be battling it out at Donington, are also on display.
This year’s British GT Championship sees seven different manufacturers vying for top honours alongside Harrington and De Zille Butler’s Aston Martin. The Barwell Motorsport team-mates both hope to win and will be counting on support from the Donington Park crowds this weekend.
“The car names involved in this championship are unreal, people can expect really good racing,” said De Zille Butler. “We’re basically racing as close as touring cars tend to but with bigger names. Everyone loves the sight of amazing cars racing close to each other.”
As Donington Park’s first endurance races of the season, the British GT Championship promises a display of raw power combined with astounding noise in each of the two hour-long races.
“Sometimes I think GT racing is motorsport’s best-kept secret,” said Donington Park’s CEO Simon Gillett. “It has a cult following thanks to the glamourous names and beautiful cars, but anyone would be impressed by the sight and noise of 20-plus supercars like these racing at Donington Park.”
To book tickets please call 01332 819 523
