Michael Mallock returns to British GT at The Rock

FIA GT4 European Cup frontrunner Michael Mallock is to make a return to the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Rockingham next weekend (17/18 July) after a seven-year absence. The 27-year-old is joining forces with Greek driver Athanasios Ladas to contest the Rockingham races, as well as the Silverstone and Brands Hatch rounds later in the season.

Mallock and Ladas will pilot a KTM X-Bow in the G4 category fielded by Chad Racing, and Northampton-based Mallock is relishing the experience, not least because he has never driven a KTM before. “I have sat in it - and I sort of fit! - but that’s all I know about the car,” says Michael. “I think it should be good fun; certainly it will be a big departure from the big GT cars which I am used to driving. I suppose if anything it will feel a bit like an old Mallock clubman’s car, so it will be almost like going back to my roots.

“I first met Athanasios several years ago when he was starting out as a driver. He got into GT4 through conversations we have had and pointers I have given him, and it’s great now to be sharing a car with him.”

Mallock is to continue his GT4 Euro campaign with his RS Williams Aston Martin; he is currently second in the standings.

Chad racing boss Piers Masarati added: “We are going to be running the car in Britain for those three rounds, and also in Europe for Athanasios, alongside our GT3 cars. It’s going to be good for the championship to have another G4 car on the grid, and great to be working with Michael, who has been a mate for years.”

It’s hoped that the G4 class will feature a six-car battle for honours at Rockingham, with the return of the Piranha Motorsport Lotus 2-Eleven likely to give the established class frontrunners something to think about. Chris Bialan and Simon Mason were rapid at Knockhill before striking a variety of problems which prevented a finish. They missed the Spa-Francorchamps race, where the Speedworks Ginetta G50 of Christian Dick and Jamie Stanley scored another convincing class win.

Stanley and Dick will start as firm favourites - they have been beaten to class victory only the once so far. That was at Oulton Park, where the ABG-prepared KTM X-Bow of Rory Butcher and Benjamin Harvey toppled them after a great race-long battle.

Joining Dick and Stanley in fighting Ginetta’s corner will be the Team Osborne Racing G50 of reigning Euro GT4 Champion Joe Osborne and his co-driver Osman Yusuf, as well as the Century Motorsport car of reigning Ginetta G50 UK Champion Nathan Freke and Vibe Smed, the championship’s only female competitor.

At the sharp end of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship grid, the GT3 class, there is a history of season-long battles among the top contenders and, more often than not, a down-to-the-wire finish with several competitors standing a chance of outright championship victory. It’s looking very much like it will be the same again in 2010 with only 16 points separating the top five teams in the championship.

Indeed there are only two points between season-long championship leaders Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin, whose MTECH Ferrari 430 Scuderia won both of the Oulton Park rounds at the start of the year, and their closest rival, Trackspeed Porsche pilot David Ashburn.

While Cameron and Griffin may have enjoyed a copybook start to their season, it has been far from plain sailing for them since. They placed second behind the Preci-Spark Ascari of the reigning champions, David and Godfrey Jones, in the first of the Knockhill races and then came to grief in the second Knockhill race after a collision with the Ascari. Things didn’t go much better for the MTECH car last time out, at Spa-Francorchamps, where tyre damage destroyed their chances of a podium finish. Nonetheless, Cameron and Northampton-based Griffin cling to their championship lead.

Ashburn, who has shared his rapid Trackspeed Porsche with a variety of co-drivers this season, has now teamed up with Glyn Geddie for the balance of the year as he bids to move into the championship lead. Though one of the youngest on the grid at 20, Geddie has bags of Porsche experience and the pace to provide great back-up for Ashburn’s title bid.

The Jones brothers have had an up and down sort of season, posting two DNFs at Oulton Park before going on to take twin wins in the Ascari at Knockhill. At Spa they didn’t even make the grid after suffering engine problems post-qualifying. But they got on to the podium at Rockingham last year and ought to be right on the pace.

Also confirmed for Rockingham are Martin Short and Gregor Fisken, who are due to give the Rollcentre Mosler its first British GT outing of the season and who will be looking to repeat the success they enjoyed together at Spa-Francorchamps in 2009.

There are several teams who will be looking for an upturn in their fortunes. Not least among them are Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott with the rapid GT3 Racing Viper, which has been blighted by braking electronics problems - now hopefully sorted. Then there is the Rosso Verde Ferrari 430 Scuderia of Hector Lester and Allan Simonsen, which has been out of the hunt since scoring a brace of seconds at Oulton.

Chad Racing is overdue a race victory, too, and it could be any one of its trio of Ferraris which delivers it: the STP Scud of young Dan Brown and Chris Hyman, the sister car of Paul Warren/Tom Ferrier, or the recently updated 430 of Argentine duo Juan Garriz and Jose Balbiani. The Predator CCTV Ferrari of Adam Wilcox and Phil Burton was another to make the podium at Rockingham last year.

The entire paddock will be showing solidarity next weekend with the RPM team, whose first British GT outing it will be since the death of Robin Mortimer. Robin’s son, Alex Mortimer, and his driving partner Philip Walker will be out to give their Ford GT a spirited outing as a fitting tribute to the popular team boss.

British GT is sponsored by UK tyre manufacturer Avon Tyres and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and The Independent.

Provisional race weekend timetableSaturday 17 July: 0925-1025 & 1310-1410 free practice; 1720 qualifyingSunday 18 July: 1000 warm-up; 1215 Round 6; 1600 Round 7

Provisional championship standings after round 5Overall & GT31= Matt Griffin & Duncan Cameron 34 points3   David Ashburn 324= David & Godfrey Jones, Mark Hayek & Peter Kox 208= Hector Lester, Adam Wilcox & Phil Burton 18 etc

G41= Christian Dick & Jamie Stanley 383= Rory Butcher & Benjamin Harvey 305= Joe Osborne & Osman Yusuf 157= Simon Mason & Chris Bialan 14.59= Nathan Freke & Vibe Smed 11 etc

The Independent Cup1   Duncan Cameron 362   David Ashburn 353   Phil Burton 23 etc