Bentley Planning New Continental GT3 Car

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Bentley Motorsport Director Brian Gush has revealed that an all-new Continental GT3 is in the works, although not yet confirming a timeline for its competition debut.

The British manufacturer, which has been represented in GT3 championships worldwide since the launch of the first-generation car in 2013, will roll out with a new Continental GT production car for the 2018 model year, which Gush confirmed will also race.

“Eventually there will be a new [Continental] GT, so as the cycle goes, there will be a new Continental GT3 race car,” Gush told Sportscar365.

“There is a timeframe and no I can’t tell you!”

The new Continental GT, based on the same platform of the Porsche Panamera, has already been caught testing on the Nürburgring Nordscheife, and is expected to be launched later this year.

It will feature a new chassis, rumored to be some 300 pounds lighter than its road-going predecessor and and with two engine options, either a 6.0-liter V12 or 4.0-liter turbocharged V8, the latter which is expected to again power the GT3 contender.

Gush said lessons from the race track in the first-generation Continental GT3 are being taken into account on the new road-going Continental GT, which will benefit the new race car as well.

“Definitely that has come into it,” he said. “Weight consciousness is a big thing amongst all engineers that have worked on the race car from the road car division.

“The weight distribution for sure, and just general motorsport awareness, from having worked with the race team and understanding the team that designs the race car and what’s required in the race car and maybe designing the road car.

“There’s not a lot that carries over but it’s more of a mindset and the way you approach things.”

Gush said there are no plans to create a GTE-spec version of the new car, although admitted they could “be caught up in it” if GT convergence occurs, as rumored by 2019 or 2020.

“We’re committed to GT3,” he said. “It works well for us. But if convergence came about, we’d look at that.”

The Bentley Motorsport director, meanwhile, has ruled out a DPi program for the time being,

“We think it’s a great concept and [Daytona] proved it,” Gush said. “If the planets aligned, we’d love to do it but at the moment we’re concentrating on GT3.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John