The new Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge has its opening rounds at Brands Hatch this weekend, the Kent circuit seeing the first two races in the exciting new series run by the Porsche Club GB and providing a home for any racing Porsche GT3. The traditional home of the dramatic 400bhp-plus GT3 Porsches has been the Porsche Carrera Cup, and the GT3 Cup Challenge is designed to complement that series and cater for GT3s past and present that have been eligible for that series.

Class One features the very latest 997 GT3s, with Carrera Cup racer Paul Hogarth, first driver to win in a 997 GT3 in a Porsche Club race, facing stiff opposition, including the always aggressive and competitive Jim Geddie. Other 997 are out in the hands of Bertie Carruthers, Stephen Ritchie and Thomas Boettcher.

Class Two is the for the older 996 GT3s, with notable entries from Stephen Doyle and Peter Smallwood, the latter having made his race debut with the club in his 996 at Silverstone last October, and now intending to complete his first full season of motorsport.

The GT3 Cup Challenge is a Porsche Concept used in nine other locations, with the UK joined by regions Japan, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia in starting up their series in 2010. The UK is only one of four locations world-wide to feature the both Carrera Cup and GT3 Cup Challenge running in tandem, the two UK series complementing each other and where possible offering Carrera Cup drivers the opportunity to sample circuits in the GT3 Cup Challenge prior to the Carrera Cup rounds there taking place.

Qualifying for the opening rounds is at 10.35 on Saturday April 10th, with the two races scheduled for 14.15 and 17.20.