Calendar tweaks for Pirelli-supplied British GT for 2017The 2017 calendar for the British GT Championship has been confirmed, with the same seven circuits featuring but with some significant changes to the order.
The Oulton Park meeting returns to its traditional Easter Bank Holiday position on April 15/17 to open the season. Snetterton also moves forward to replace Oulton Park as the venue for round three on May 27/28. Brands Hatch, which held the first round of Pirelli’s first season as the exclusive supplier to British GT in 2016, is moved back to become the penultimate round on August 5/6.
The calendar has again been devised to avoid clashes with the pan-European Blancpain GT Series to enable teams to contest both Pirelli-supllied series.
Stephane Ratel, Founder and CEO of series organiser SRO Motorsports Group, said: “British GT’s 2017 schedule builds on a tried and tested formula, starting with Oulton Park returning to its traditional Easter weekend. The championship always receives interest from other venues but the combination of Britain’s six best circuits plus Spa - a driver favourite and one of the world’s most challenging - is always difficult to overlook. It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, loading the first half of the season with two one-hour races per weekend has on the championship.”
2017 British GT Championship Calendar R1/2, Oulton Park, April 15 & 17, 2x 1hr races R3, Rockingham, April 29/30, 1x 2hr race R4/5, Snetterton, May 27/28, 2x 1hr race R6, Silverstone 500, June 10/11, 1x 3hr race R7, Spa-Francorchamps, July 7/8, 1x 2hr race R8, Brands Hatch, August 5/6, 1x 2hr race R9, Donington Park, September 23/24, 1x 2hr race
Oulton Park will open 2017 season of Pirelli-equipped British GT
Leist targets Pirelli-backed GP3 as the next step after BRDC British F3 gloryNewly-crowned BRDC British Formula 3 champion Matheus Leist says he wants to step up to the GP3 Series next season, and therefore continue racing on Pirelli tyres.
The Brazilian came from behind to claim the F3 title at Donington Park earlier this month, and said afterwards that the Formula 1 support category would be his preferred move for 2017.
“I still don’t know if I’m going to do it or not, but I’m aiming at GP3,” said Leist, who celebrated his 19th birthday a few days prior to the Donington round. “I still need to find the budget, but this is my next step.”
With the introduction of a new, faster Tatuus-Cosworth car and the renaming from F4 at the start of 2016, BRDC British F3 is designed to be the perfect stepping stone from FIA Formula 4 series – where Leist raced last year – to higher categories like GP3.
Bell wins Blancpain Endurance title with McLaren and PirelliBritish driver Rob Bell clinched the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup title with Frenchman Come Ledogar and New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen at the Nurburgring.
Bell and Ledogar – together with stand-in team-mate Duncan Tappy – failed to score in the final race of the season in their Garage 59-entered McLaren 650S GT3, but held on to take the title in the Pirelli-equipped series by one point over HTP Motorsport Mercedes trio Maximilian Buhk, Dominik Baumann and Jazeman Jaafar.
Spa 24 Hours winner Alexander Sims concluded the Endurance Cup with fourth in the standings together with his Rowe Racing BMW team-mate Philipp Eng.
A season’s-best second in class at the Nurburgring in his Bentley Continental GT3 gave Top Gear presenter Chris Harris and team-mate Derek Pierce sixth in the Am Cup standings.
McLaren factory Bell could add the overall Blancpain GT Series title with good results in the Sprint Cup finale at Barcelona on October 1/2.
Pirelli’s Pritchard takes two wins at Rally Isle of ManPirelli driver Jason Pritchard scored a double win on the classic Rally Isle of Man to boost his chances of retaining the British Historic Rally Championship title.
Full points were on offer on both halves of the two-and-a-half day event, and Pritchard’s success in his Ford Escort enabled him to move up to second in the standings with one round remaining.
Paul Barrett finished second of the BHRC contenders in another Pirelli-equipped Escort to retain his championship lead.
Barrett and Pritchard will fight for the BHRC title at the Trackrod Historic Cup in Yorkshire on September 30-October 1.
Donington double puts Byrne back on top in Pirelli-supported British SuperbikesShane Byrne won both MCE British Superbike Championship races at Donington Park to regain the series lead from rival Leon Haslam.
Haslam had gained the initiative one week earlier with a hat-trick at Oulton Park, but Byrne had the upper hand at Donington, where the two protagonists were split on their Pirelli tyre strategy.
Byrne opted for the softer DIABLO™ SC0 rear tyre and excelled in warmer track temperatures on race day. Haslam started from pole on the harder SC1 rear tyre but Byrne soon worked his way ahead and opened up a seven-second margin on his way to victory.
As in race one, James Eillison led the early stages of race two, before Byrne and Haslam worked ahead. Haslam took a hit to his title hopes with a crash at Redgate, as Byrne won to open up a 27-point lead going to Assen in the Netherlands on October 2.
Elsewhere, Taylor Mackenzie clinched the Pirelli Superstock 1000 title while 15-year-old Charlie Nesbitt wrapped up the open-tyre Moto3 category with Pirelli.
