The 2008 Avon Tyres British GT champion team, CRS Racing, is to return to the series this season with a brace of Ferrari 458s. One will be raced by 2010 title runner-up Glynn Geddie and his father, Jim, and the other by ’07 Champion Alex Mortimer and Monaco-based driver Andrew Tate.
The Leicestershire team says it won’t be satisfied with anything less than a clean sweep in 2011: “We’ve only done British GT once and won the teams title,” said CRS team principal Andrew Kirkaldy. “But we want the drivers’ crown too, so that is definitely our aim.”
Said 20-year-old Aberdonian Geddie, who partnered David Ashburn to four British GT race wins in 2010 in the Trackspeed Porsche 911 GT3R: “It was a huge learning curve for me last season. This season I am better prepared and more equipped for the challenge. There is obviously a new twist on things now as I’ll be teaming up with my dad, but we have a strong relationship and I’m relishing the opportunity to drive with him. Jim has come a long way with his driving and I am confident we will make a good team.”
Glynn adds that the Ferrari requires a much more delicate driving style to the Porsche: “The 911 has to be wrestled to get the best from it but the Ferrari needs a gentler touch. CRS takes delivery of the cars quite late so testing will be limited, but I am confident that with the team’s resources we can hit the ground running.”
In addition to his 2007 title win, Worcestershire-based 26-year-old Mortimer won British GT races in ’08 and ’09 in the RPM Ford GT. Kirkaldy believes that he has a strong car and driver line-up: “The 458 is a great car and a big step forward from the old 430, and Glynn and Alex are both top-notch drivers.”
CRS is the latest in a long line to of top teams to tip its hat into the GT3 ring for the coming season: MTECH plans also to field a brace of 458s and there will be further Ferraris from the Predator CCTV team and Scuderia Vittoria. United Autosports will launch a twin-Audi R8 LMS assault, and there will be a Mercedes-Benz SLS for 2009 champions David and Godfrey Jones as well as a Corvette from Speedworks Motorsport and a brace of Trackspeed Porsches.
Race format change for Oulton & Brands
Championship promoter SRO Motorsports Group has made a minor alteration to the proposed 2011 Avon Tyres British GT Calendar, introducing a two-hour endurance race into the June Brands Hatch round and revising the format of the season-opener at Oulton Park to feature two one-hour races.
“The reason for the change is two-fold,” said championship manager Benjamin Franassovici. “Firstly the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit is ideally suited to a two-hour endurance race, and secondly we decided that it would fascinating to see the new time penalty system in operation at the first meeting of the year.”
This season sees the abandonment of the success-ballast system, which penalises successful cars with extra weight, with a time penalty formula. Thus the front-running cars in Oulton Park’s first round will find themselves forced to spend longer in the pits during the second-race driver change.
The British GT Championship is sponsored by UK tyre manufacturer Avon Tyres and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and OAMPS.
2011 Avon Tyres British GT provisional calendarRevised format
23 & 25 Apr Oulton Park 2 x 1hr races14/15 May Snetterton 300 2hr race18/19 Jun Brands Hatch GP 2hr race8/9 Jul Spa-Francorchamps 2 x 1hr races3/4 Sep Rockingham 2 x 1hr races24/25 Sep Donington Park GP 3hr race7-9 Oct Silverstone GP 2hr race
