It may not yet be mid-August, but it’s time for the drivers to put the bucket and spades back in the cupboard, finish their “What I did on my holidays” assignment, and head back to British GT Comprehensive for the Autumn term. This has been a long break, so what are the prospects for the returnees as they start cramming for the end-of-year finals?
The first hope is that the recent good weather will have had an effect on behaviour, with the first half of the year being marked by (uncharacteristic) indiscipline – crashes, errors and poor judgement being a feature of all the races held so far, with an unprecedented level of race-exclusions and licence-points ensuing as a direct result. This has to stop, before the credibility of the series suffers.
So, assuming the lessons have been learned, what are the prospects for the second half of the season?
Well, amazingly, it appears that there is still everything to be played for, with virtually every car and driver pairing who take part in the final three meetings and four races having a chance of title success, at least mathematically. With 125 points up for grabs still, we have the situation where the GT3 leaders, Trackspeed’s David Ashburn and Nick Tandy, hold the slenderest of leads – one half of one point, to be precise – with a total of just 68; while Optimum’s Ryan Ratcliffe and Rick Parfitt Jr currently head GT4 by five points with 108, but with the points-spread over the full-season regulars being just 50.
Nor is there any indication yet of a dominant marque, although – sadly – complaints about the balance of performance have been more frequent and voluble as the season has progressed. The standings currently show Porsche, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Aston, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Mercedes, Porsche and Porsche as the top ten in GT3. Hang on…what about Ferrari? Remarkably, the first full-season Ferrari pairing – FF Corse’s Gary Eastwood and Rob Barff – are currently only 12th on 23 points, but if the season continues in the same manner as before the break, a good result at Brands could propel them right into contention; and the same could be said for any of the four McLarens in the series, which currently languish in the very depths of the standings.
This weekend, though, one of the favourites for the race has to be the AF Corse Ferrari 458 of Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin. Fresh from a Pro-Am win at the Spa 24, this dynamic duo will be looking for their third (DC) and fourth (MG) wins on the bounce and will be full of confidence on what is likely to be their final appearance this season.
While Ginetta is once again numerically dominant in GT4, the Complete Racing Aston of Steven Chaplin and Tom Wilson have already taken one win and show every sign of getting stronger with every race.
That the championship should be lead by David Ashburn – a man who has ‘retired from racing’ twice in the past ten months – tells its own story about how unpredictable things have been so far. Five of the six races have so far gone to Porsche – with each of the four 997 GT4 Rs taking at least one win – and yet Mark Patterson and Matt Bell are half a point from leading the championship despite not winning yet. Is the Porsche challenge over – the common wisdom being that their best circuits have already been visited – or are there more surprises to come?
Last year’s visit to Brands Hatch saw the closest-ever finish in the BGT’s history, when Jann Mardenborough held on to take the win for RJN and Nissan by 22 thousandths of a second from the Beechdean Aston of Jonny Adam after 74 laps of the Grand Prix circuit. But while there are no Nissans this year (Mardenborough will be there, but in the F3 race – very much a support to the BGT on this occasion) the Aston of Adam and Andrew Howard is there and stronger than ever, and we can expect all three of the Vantage GT3s to be competitive in Kent. Or is the time right for the BMW Z4s to come to the ascendancy? But for a disastrous Snetterton (six points from a possible 50 being all they could take away from the last round), the #79 Ecurie Ecosse Z4 of Marco Attard and Olly Bryant could well be holding a substantial lead in the standings, while the 888Optimum cars – especially the Steve Tandy/Dan Brown Z4 – are looking stronger all the time and already challenging for wins.
The news that Rembert Berg and Warren Hughes will be continuing in the series is also significant. Currently seventh in the standings, the Anglo-Dutch pairing will now be racing under the WRT banner, although we understand that the Audi R8 LMS ultra they will use is the same one they drove while with M-Sport. Again, the car looks sorted and is already a front-runner. And let’s not write off the Fortec pairing of Jason Minshaw and Benji Hetherington. The Mercedes AMG SLS GT3 is looking strong and consistent in their hands and a good run at Brands could be significant.
GT4 sees five Ginettas going up against the lone Aston this weekend, with the Ratcliffe/Parfitt G50 poised to carry their momentum from a perfect Snetterton over to Brands. But with just one two-hour race this weekend, and slip-up or incident could easily see the 37.5 points go elsewhere.
But, of course, there will be a very significant absentee from this weekend’s proceedings – and, tragically, from all future races – and there is sure to be a reflective atmosphere at the Kent circuit this weekend. This will be the first time that the British GT Championship has had to deal with the death of one of its drivers, and Allan Simonsen’s accident at Le Mans has robbed the series of its Senna. Emotions are still raw from the recent events and the Great Dane will be missed by many people for a long time, but the grid will pay tribute in the most appropriate manner, with an empty front row and with a 60 seconds ‘roar’ before the race.
Practice and qualifying take place on Saturday, with the race scheduled to begin at 13:40 on Sunday.
MH
