As Britain bakes in what looks to be the hottest summer since records began, the second half of the British GT Championship gets underway with what is set to be a scorcher on track as Snetterton plays host to a pair of 60-minute sprints.
To make sure you don’t miss a thing as British GT heads to East Anglia, we run through the championship standings ahead of what could be a crucial weekend.
GT3
After a hard-fought victory at Spa back in June, Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski come off the summer break standing at the top of the championship standings and with the wind in their sails.
The Barwell Motorsport pair are the only duo to have scored at least 10 points every round and that consistency in their Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo has propelled them to 80 points and in something of a unique position – no Silver-Am pairing has won the overall title before, but their point scoring could well make that a reality.
That said, they’ve got just 11.5 points in hand over Optimum Motorsport pair Ben Barnicoat and Morgan Tillbrook and with 125 to play for over the Snetterton, Donington and Brands Hatch rounds there’s plenty still to change. And, indeed, you could argue that momentum might be a bit more in the favour the McLaren pair. They took third in Belgium, and took a win at Oulton Park, plus Barnicoat is a speed demon so expect him to want to put the 720S GT3 Evo on pole for when he starts the second race this weekend.
Although, Barwell has taken eight wins at Snetterton with Lamborghinis so they’ve got the knowledge to swing the pendulum back in their favour.
It’s not just the top two in the championship fight. Century Motorsport’s Jonathan Beeson and Charles Clark took maximum points at the Silverstone season-opener, but have had middling results since and the pack has started to nip at their heels. On 59.5 points, they’re nine behind Barnicoat and Tillbrook, and they’re only 3.5 ahead of Orange Racing with JMH’s Marcus Clutton and Simon Orange after a runner-up spot in Spa vaulted them back into the championship hunt.
Looking to head to Snetterton with a pick-up in form is Rob Collard and Hugo Cook. On 55 points, one behind Clutton and Orange, a pair of fourth places after their Oulton Race one win has dropped them off the pace slightly but Collard in particular embraces the rough and tumble of sprint races so will be targeting a good points haul.
Another driver who loves a Snetterton sprint is Andrew Howard. The Beechdean boss won here on his way to the 2015 title and, alongside Ross Gunn, the pair took two second places at the last sprint weekend in the North West and will be hoping to recapture that form again.
Capturing some form will be the name of the game for 2 Seas Motorsport’s Ben Green and Kevin Tse. The pair took a podium at Oulton, but haven’t hit the sparkling form you’d expect from the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo racers and this weekend could be their last dance. 42 points off the lead, they need a good haul to keep themselves in the championship hunt.
Away from the championship battle, 13 GT3s head into rounds five and six, with Mike Price and Callum Macleod continuing on after making their season debut on the continent last time out, and Ian Loggie continues in the second 2 Seas entry alongside Aaron Walker.
GT4
The battle for GT4 honours is going down as a battle for the ages in British GT terms, with four crews immediately in the hunt for what will be a hard-earned victory for whoever leaves Brands Hatch with the crown in their hands.
Back to the here and now, and it’s advantage Innovation Racing where a win and two third-places – ignoring a bit of a stinker in the Ardennes – has put Thomas Holland and Hadley Simpson on 79.5 points.
However, the Ginetta crew will be feeling MK Racing breathing down their necks. Three consecutive second places, and finishing one place ahead of Innovation last time, has put Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton just 1.5 points down in their Aston Martin and coiled like springs ready to pounce on any mistake from the leaders.
You could say the same for Jack Collins and Branden Templeton. The Century Motorsport BMW duo outscored the two crews ahead last time, and on 73 points they could easily leap-frog their way to the top.
Especially when you add in the fact that none of the top three have successful penalties to serve in race one, it’s an all-out scrap between them. That gives them an advantage over the crew in fourth – Darren Turner and Daniel Lavery took their second win in a row in June, and the Grange Racing by FSR pair arrive on form. Could they make it wins three and four in Norfolk?
An outside chance at the crown goes to Optimum Motorsport’s Josh Stanton, on 49.5 points he’s 30 behind the leaders but second at Spa has undone some of the damage of a non-scoring Oulton weekend and he’ll have a new driver alongside him this weekend as 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion George Gamble makes his first British GT start since Rockingham 2017 in the team’s McLaren Artura.
Once he’s recovered from running 104 miles to Snetterton from his Oxfordshire home, Toro Verde GT’s Jack Mitchell, driving alongside Luke Shaw, will be hoping to bag some big points. Two behind Stanton, you’d think that anything less than a trophy-filled weekend for the Ginetta pair will see them eliminated from the title battle.
As we’ve already mentioned, it’s a double-header race weekend at Snetterton with the races taking place at 11.35 and 16.00 BST (an hour behind Europe), with all the action live on GT REPORT.
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