British GT Set for “Donington Decider” Finale

Photo: British GT

Champions in both classes will be crowned this weekend at Donington Park, as the 2016 British GT Championship draws to a close with the “Donington Decider”.

ENTRY LIST: Donington Park

There have been some changes to the provisional entry list ahead of the two-hour race on Sunday, Sept. 11. Most notably, series stalwarts Beechdean AMR will return to the GT3 class after missing the Snetterton rounds with damage.

However, Rory Butcher will join Andrew Howard in the No. 1 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, as season regular Ross Gunn continues his stint in one of the team’s GT4 entries.

The PFL Motorsport Aston Martin of Peter Littler and Jody Fannin will sit out the finale, to focus on testing, according to Fannin on Twitter.

The Ultimate Speed Aston Martin fielded by Matt Manderson and Mike Brown won’t return for Donington, either.

As far as the championship is concerned, Barwell Motorsport’s Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen lead TF Sport’s Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam by 11.5 points, while Seb Morris and Rick Parfitt are a further 15.5 points behind for Team Parker Racing.

With 37.5 points available for the win, all three crews are within chance of winning the GT3 drivers’ championship.

Two teams are set to return to the GT4 class; Fox Motorsport and GPRM. Neither have competed in the series since Silverstone, and both have slightly altered driver pairings.

In Fox Motorsport’s Ginetta G55 GT4, Jamie Stanley is joined by Sam Webster, while Ollie Chadwick pairs with Stefan Hodgets in the GPRM-run Toyota GT86.

The elder of the Chadwick siblings hasn’t raced in British GT since the Brands Hatch season-opener in April.

Stratton Motorsport has changed its second entry, with Tim Eakin and Gavan Kershaw set to race the No. 72 Lotus Evora GT4, while Martin Plowman and Richard Taffinder remain in the No. 70 car.

Mike Robinson and Graham Johnson lead the GT4 drivers’ standings in their Optimum Motorsport Ginetta, but only by 2.5 points over Jack Bartholomew.

Gunn is to continue as Bartholomew’s co-driver in the No. 407 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4.

A record total of seven different manufacturers will be represented in this weekend’s GT4 class.

The two-hour race is set for 1 p.m. local time on Sunday, Sept. 11. Motors TV will air the full race, with the UK broadcast starting at 12:30 p.m.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.