British GT Brands Hatch: Can Collards take the crown as competition heats up?

The British GT Championship reaches its climax this weekend (28 & 29 September) as the series breaks from tradition and swaps the Donington Decider for the Battle of Brands.

BRANDS HATCH: ENTRY LIST | DONINGTON GALLERY

In GT3, Rob & Ricky Collard are aiming to convert their advantage at the top of the standings into being just the second father-and-son team to clinch the crown, but have competition from Barwell Motorsport team-mates Sandy Mitchell & Alex Martin – the former a title winner alongside Rob Collard – as well as Silver-Am champs Adam Smalley & Shaun Balfe.

The GT4 class is set to go down to a thriller, with Mikey Porter & Jamie Day at the head of a points table where the top four is covered by just 13.5 points. The Forsetti duo, then, will have it all to do.

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GT3

It’s been the year of Barwell in the GT3 category, as its pair of Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2s have put on quite the show with four wins between the two crews, with three going towards Mitchell & Martin.

Although, consistency – and avoiding the DNF at the Silverstone that has cost Martin & Mitchell – has allowed the Collards’ pair of wins, and three podiums, has allowed them to open up a 24.5 point lead at the top of the standings.

While victory at Donington Park last time out has given them their commanding lead – with 37.5 points available at Brands Hatch – but their success comes with a downside, a 20-second penalty in the mandatory pitstop.

That extra penalty is the glimmer of hope that Mitchell and Martin will be grabbing onto as the former looks to take his second title and Martin looks to add a crown to cap what has been a strong season alongside the Lamborghini factory driver.

Could a shock win be on the cards? Perhaps, but the traditional twist at British GT finales would have to be a big one – the biggest deficit successfully overturned by a team chasing the title is 13 points, a record set by reigning champions Darren Leung & Dan Harper.

There’s another potential crew who could be coronated in Kent, with Garage 59’s Shaun Balfe & Adam Smalley still technically in with a shout – 36 points behind, with 37.5 still up for grabs.

It’s a tough ask, but the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo pair took a win at Silverstone and have claimed another two podium so they’re not completely unfamiliar with what it takes to pick up the points they’d need.

As well as the overall title, the Pro-Am crown is there to be won as well, and that is headed too by the Barwell pairs but by a slighter thinner margin of 24 points because of the joys of British GT’s scoring system.

Away from the title fight, there’s a few changes to the entry list with neither Blackthorn Aston Martin on the entry list – one of those can be accounted for by Jonny Adam racing at Mugello in the European Le Mans Series. Ram Racing’s John Ferguson is also absent. Ian Loggie & Phil Keen will also be skipping the weekend, despite having debuted their new Porsche last time out.

Elsewhere, there’s driver changes abound as Orange Racing by JMH returns with Simon Orange joined by Benji Goethe, Tom Wood joining Andrew Howard at Beechdean AMR and Josh Caygill racing alongside Alex Buncombe at Team RJN.

GT4

The junior class is always a scrap right to the final lap of the final race and this year is an even bigger fight than usual with 13.5 points covering four pairs of drivers and any one of them could take the crown.

Sandwiching the contenders is Forsetti Motorsport. Mikey Porter and Jamie Day’s black and green Aston Martin Vantage GT4 rules the roost on 137.5 points but Marc Warren and Will Orton are on 124 points in the sister Vantage and that same haul of points available in GT3 – 37.5 – are all up for grabs in GT4.

In between, Jack Brown and Zac Meakin will be hoping to avoid the dramas that struck their Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura at Brands Hatch 12 months ago as they look to score just four points more than their rivals ahead.

Forsetti’s Aston can afford to finish one place behind the Optimum McLaren if it’s fourth or lower, so expect fireworks at the front.

Another bang could come from Team Parker Racing’s Charles Dawson & Seb Morris – the latter looking to add a GT4 title to his 2017 GT3 crown to match his 2017 team-mate Rick Parfitt in doing the double – who are 7.5 points off the top spot after their high-scoring success at Donington earlier in the month.

The Mercedes-AMG GT4 crew – and Orton & Warren for that matter – has an ace up their sleeve in the shape of the Silver Cup success penalty which will see the leading Forsetti and the Optimum pair having to serve an extra 24 seconds in the pits.

Porter/Day & Brown/Meakin are separated by 15 points in the Silver Cup standings, which is still well up for grabs with the former duo leading the way and on for a potential double.

Pro-Am honours is also up for grabs with Warren & Orton 6.5 points ahead of Dawson & Morris – 28 points back is Ian Gough & Tom Wrigley in the Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 which would need one heck of a run to snatch that crown away.

Elsewhere, there’s a couple of changes to the entry. With Ravi Ramyead & Charlie Robertson otherwise engaged this weekend, Century team boss Nathan Freke will join Chris Salkeld in a BMW M4, while Michael O’Brien joins Ben Tusting in an Army-liveried Toyota Gazoo Racing UK Toyota Supra.