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PCLUB AUTOSPORT NATIONAL NEWS
66 AUTOSPORT.COM 1 AUGUST 2019BRITISH GTThe new GT2 class pioneered
by British GT Championship
boss Stephane Ratel will not
be incorporated into the
series next season.
Ratel (right) conceived GT2
as a complement to GT3 and
intended for the new breed
of more-powerful but less
sophisticated machinery to
race alongside the existing
class in all his series, running
to a one-hour sprint format.
He has now announced that
GT2 will only be part of his GTSports Club events for
amateur drivers.
“The problem we have with
these cars is that they are very
powerful, and with the fuel
capacity they have, they cannot
do an hour,” said Ratel.
Porsche GT motorsport
director Pascal Zurlinden
explained that, because the
GT2 concept called for cars
with limited modifications
from standard, there is
little scope to increase
the fuel capacity.
The move has been
supported by Mark Lemmer,boss of the frontrunning
Barwell Lamborghini squad.
“I’ve said all along that the
introduction of GT2 would
result in drivers bailing out
of GT3, and as a team that has
invested in Lambo GT3 cars
we don’t want that,” he said.O British GT championship
organiser SRO has announced
an unchanged calendar for
next year, with the only
minor alteration being
pushing Brands Hatch
back by one week.
GARY WATKINSRatel: No GT2 class for British GT in 2020
BRITISH GTMcLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist
Jamie Caroline will make his British GT
debut this weekend in an HHC McLaren
570S GT4 at Brands Hatch, marking his
return to the team he won the Ginetta
Junior title with in 2015.
The 20-year-old, who won the British
Formula 4 title in 2017, has not raced sinceSeptember following a partial campaign
in BRDC British F3 that yielded two wins,
but was approached by HHC to fill the
breach left by Luke Williams, who has
been sidelined by budget issues.
Caroline will share with 18-year-old
Ginetta graduate Ruben Del Sarte, who
made his own series debut alongside
Williams in the last round at Spa after
replacing cash-strapped Tom Jackson.Caroline said he is now focusing on
pursuing a career in GT racing, having had
a seat in Lamborghini Trofeo Asia fall
through over the winter, and hopes to see
out the remainder of the year in the car.
“It’s a good time to change to GTs –
there are quite a few young guns going into
it now and hopefully I can have some good
results,” he said. “I’ve never driven a GT4
but I’m fairly experienced at jumping into
random things here and there. Over the
McLaren Autosport BRDC Award tests we
had LMP3, F2 and GT3 cars, so hopefully
that’s going to benefit me.”
HHC boss Charlie Kemp predicts
Caroline, who tested a GT3-specification
McLaren 650S as part of his Award
evaluation, will be able to quickly get
to grips with the GT4.
“He’s not driven the car before so that’ll
be a little bit of a baptism of fire for him,
but I have no doubt that he’ll get on top
of it,” Kemp said. “I’m very confident
in his ability, so all the other stuff you
need to do as a GT driver will come
fairly easily to him.”
Meanwhile, Multimatic Motorsport
will run another new pairing in its second
Ford Mustang GT4. Jack Roush Jr, son of
NASCAR team owner and aftermarket
tuning company boss Jack Sr, will be
joined in his first experience of racing
in the UK by journalist Richard Meaden.
JAMES NEWBOLDMOTORSPORTIMAGES/TRIENITZCaroline to make British GT
debut with HHC McLaren