The strongest field seen so far in the 2010 Avon Tyres British GT Championship is lining up to contest the toughest round of the series so far: the two-hour endurance epic on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit on Sunday (15 Aug) adds the thrills of mid-race refuelling to the heady mix of supercar action, and the stars and their cars will be out in force.

A host of the latest Ferraris will be in action, as well as three Aston Martins, and a double-strength Porsche entry for the championship-leading Trackspeed team. The G4 class will be large also, with several star names joining the fray for Silverstone.

Trackspeed’s second 997 GT3 will be in the hands of Porsche specialist Richard Westbrook and Philip Walker, the latter hoping to repeat the success he enjoyed with Team RPM and Alex Mortimer at Donington Park last year, where his Ford GT won the two-hour race. Westbrook is the reigning FIA GT2 Champion and a multiple Porsche racing titlist and will, says Trackspeed team manager Ricki Martino, make an excellent driving partner for Walker: “We think they will be well suited and a strong combination.”

Trackspeed’s David Ashburn leads the championship to Silverstone and is on the crest of a wave following his twin wins at Rockingham last month with his new co-driver, Glynn Geddie.

Among the other exciting additions to the field are Aston Martin works driver Darren Turner, who is joining forces with Andrew Howard at the wheel of the latter’s Beechdean Motorsport DBRS9, and British Touring Car Championship frontrunner Steven Kane, who will drive one of Chad Racing’s trio of Ferrari 430 Scuderias with Iain Dockerill.

Just six points behind Ashburn in the championship, and keen to get back on top after leading it for much of the season since their twin wins at Oulton Park, are MTECH duo Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin and their Ferrari 430 Scuderia. They will be hoping to repeat the victory they scored at Silverstone last year, their first in the championship.

The Chad team is looking towards Kane and Dockerill, who have enjoyed success in European GT3 racing, to give their UK campaign a push towards the podium; the team’s other Ferraris will be raced by talented youngster Dan Brown and Chris Hyman, and by Tom Ferrier/Paul Warren. Further Ferrari fever is provided by the Rosso Verde-run car of Hector Lester and Allan Simonsen, and the Predator CCTV Scud of Phil Burton and Adam Wilcox.

The Howard/Turner DBRS9 is one of three Astons expected at Silverstone: like the Beechdean car, the Cadena entry of Paul Whight/Michael Bentwood will be run by the crack Barwell Motorsport team. The third Aston is from championship debutant Vantage Racing and will be driven by Tom Black and 2009 British GT racewinner Stuart Hall.

It’s been a disappointing year for the reigning champions, the Jones brothers, who - Knockhill wins aside - have endured all sorts of mechanical problems. David and Godfrey are hoping that a pre-race test will prove positive and that the Team Preci-Spark Ascari will be on the grid.

Two cars with a strong chance of success in this most punishing of British GT events are the GT3 Racing Viper of Aaron Scott and Craig Wilkins, and the Team RPM Ford GT, which will be in the hands of Alex Mortimer and Peter Bamford. Mortimer crewed the car to victory in the Donington two-hour race last year, where the Ford’s light thirst and some canny pit stop strategy gave it the edge. The mighty Mosler of Rollcentre Racing’s Martin Short ought to be there or thereabouts also; Martin’s co-driver has yet to be confirmed.

Championship manager Benjamin Franassovicci believes a great battle is in prospect: “The Trackspeed car of Ashburn and Geddie will have a tough time fighting against the rest of the field after gaining 40kg of success ballast following Rockingham. Ricki Martino’s team will do a great job, but MTECH and the others will give them trouble. With at least 11 cars in GT3, nine in G4 with two in Invitation, the Silverstone two-hour race is really going to be exciting; I’m looking forward to this race.”

The G4 class entry is certainly strong; the Speedworks Motorsport duo Christian Dick and Jamie Stanley are nursing a 13-point lead over the ABG Motorsport-run KTM X-Bow of Benjamin Harvey and Rory Butcher, with the Piranha Motorsport pairing of Chris Bialan and Simon Mason not much further behind with their Lotus 2-Eleven. With double points on offer for this race, and the Speedworks Ginetta carrying a lot of success ballast after its four class wins, the outcome at Silverstone is far from certain.

The double G4 class winner at Rockingham last month was the Chad Racing-prepared KTM of Greek racer Athanasios Ladas; he’s paired with Dutch GT4 BMW driver Kevin Veltman for Silverstone.

The Ginetta G50 entry for Silverstone is stronger than it has been all season. Joining Dick and Stanley on the grid will be two cars from Century Motorsport - for series regulars Nathan Freke and Vibe Smed, and talented young brothers Benjie and Freddie Hetherington - plus the Stark Racing G50 of Ian Stinton, who makes a welcome championship return with 18-year-old Paul Marsh, with whom he scored a class win at Knockhill in ’09.

And then there is the United Autosports entry for brothers Rob and Matt Bell. They will be sharing a car for the first time and it’s also a British GT debut for both. Twenty-year-old Matt usually campaigns one of the team’s Audi R8s in FIA GT3, while his 31-year-old brother is a sports car veteran of many seasons standing.

The Invitation class looks set to be renamed the father-and-son class for the weekend: there will be a Ginetta G50 Peter and Matt Smith - their Reflex Racing GB-prepared machine bears allegiance to the British Kidney Patients Association - and an ABG-run KTM for Colin and Sam Mowle.

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 14 August: 0900-1000 & 1205-1305 free practice; 1725 qualifyingSunday 15 August: 0900 warm-up; 1250 Round 8

Provisional UK TV schedule28 Aug: 0730 Channel 4; 29 Aug 2043 Motors TVFull UK & Euro TV schedules: http://bit.ly/bbb0c9

Provisional championship standings after round 7Overall & GT31   David Ashburn 52 points2= Matt Griffin & Duncan Cameron 464   Glynn Geddie 265= Adam Wilcox & Phil Burton 237= David & Godfrey Jones, Mark Hayek & Peter Kox 20 etc

G41= Christian Dick & Jamie Stanley 433= Rory Butcher & Benjamin Harvey 305= Simon Mason & Chris Bialan 22.57= Joe Osborne & Osman Yusuf, Nathan Freke & Vibe Smed 17 etc

The Independent Cup1   David Ashburn 552   Duncan Cameron 483   Phil Burton 28 etc