Autosport – 18 April 2019

All eyes will be on

the new Mustang

Maxwell isn’t

getting carried away

McLarens will figure

strongly again

18 APRIL 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 51

BRITISH GT PREVIEW

NEXT WEEK

OULTON PARK

25 APRIL ISSUE

Find out who gets off to

the best start with our

report from the first round

The 2018 GT4 class title battle was
a series of ifs, buts and missed
opportunities that contributed to a
thriller, which remained open until
the final lap of the season. If 2019’s
record-equalling 23-car grid can
produce anything like the spectacle
of last year, where the top three
crews were separated at season’s
end by just two points, then
we’ll be in for a treat.
Early indications from media day

• held before Balance of Performance
  testing – were positive, with four
  marques in the top five, headed by
  the Team Parker Racing Mercedes-
  AMG GT4 of reigning Pro-Am
  champions Scott Malvern and Nick
  Jones. But it’s the car that ended
  up second, driven by Formula 4
  graduate Seb Priaulx, that will be
  the object of close scrutiny this year.
  As customer teams that receive
  technical support from their
  affiliated manufacturers, last year’s
  title battlers Century Motorsport and
  Tolman Motorsport subscribe to the
  traditional GT4 model. But that
  could be ripped up by the entry of

Canadian engineering giant

Multimatic. Best known for

developing the Ford GT, Multimatic

is the company behind the Mustang

GT4, which has raced in customer

hands in the US since 2017. Now

Priaulx is paired with long-time

driver Scott Maxwell in one car, while

Gold-rated Billy Johnson will be

partnered by an as-yet unnamed

Bronze in the second entry.

The combination of Priaulx’s

youthful exuberance, Maxwell’s

experience and Multimatic’s intimate

knowledge of its creation should

make for a potent combination,

but Maxwell is keen to play down

its prospects. “Like every car it has

strengths and weaknesses so we’ll see

how the tracks play out, and you’re

always playing the BoP game too,

so it’s difficult to predict,” he says.

“No car will dominate – that’s just the

way it is now. But we should be one

of the cars to beat I would think.”

Competition for that honour

will be fierce, as ever. McLaren is

well-represented in its fourth year of

GT4, bolstered by the addition of two

GT4 ENTRY LIST

NO DRIVERS TEAM (CAR) CLASS

4 Josh Smith/James Dorlin Tolman Motorsport (McLaren 570S GT4) Silver

5 Lewis Proctor/Jordan Collard Tolman Motorsport (McLaren 570S GT4) Silver

11 Martin Plowman/Kelvin Fletcher Beechdean AMR (Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4) Pro-Am

15 Seb Priaulx/Scott Maxwell Multimatic Motorsports (Ford Mustang GT4) Silver

19 Billy Johnson/TBC Multimatic Motorsports (Ford Mustang GT4) Pro-Am

20 Michael O’Brien/Graham Johnson Balfe Motorsport (McLaren 570S GT4) Pro-Am

23 Aron Taylor-Smith/Sam Smelt RACE Performance (Ford Mustang GT4) Silver

32 Sean Cooper/Mike McCollum Track Focused (KTM X-Bow GT4) Pro-Am

35 Jack Butel/Connor O’Brien Optimum Motorsport (Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4) Silver

75 Patrik Matthiesen/Mike Robinson Optimum Motorsport (Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4) Silver

42 Mark Kimber/Jacob Mathiassen Century Motorsport (BMW M4 GT4) Silver

43 Angus Fender/Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke Century Motorsport (BMW M4 GT4) Silver

44 Matthew George/Steve McCulley/Paul Vice Invictus Games Racing (Jaguar F-Type SVR GT4) Pro-Am

57 Dean Macdonald/Callum Pointon HHC Motorsport (McLaren 570S GT4) Silver

58 Luke Williams/Tom Jackson HHC Motorsport (McLaren 570S GT4) Silver

61 Ben Hurst/Micah Stanley Academy Motorsport (Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4) Silver

62 Will Moore/Alex Toth-Jones Academy Motorsport (Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4) Silver

66 Scott Malvern/Nick Jones Team Parker Racing (Mercedes-AMG GT4) Pro-Am

77 Michael Broadhurst/Mark Murfitt Fox Motorsport (Mercedes-AMG GT4) Pro-Am

88 Dino Zamparelli/Chris Car GT Marques (Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport) Pro-Am

89 TBC/TBC Steller Performance (TBC) TBC

95 Josh Price/Patrick Kibble TF Sport (Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4) Silver

97 Ash Hand/Tom Canning TF Sport (Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4) Silver

HOW MULTIMATIC AND ITS MUSTANG COULD BE A GT4 GAME CHANGER

570Ss for 2017 champion HHC

Motorsport. New McLaren Young

Professional Michael O’Brien is

the best-placed returning driver

from last year and, together with

2016 champion Graham Johnson,

will be a threat for Pro-Am honours

at Balfe Motorsport. Renault UK

Clio Cup convert James Dorlin

and Formula Ford Festival winner

Josh Smith head the new McLaren

Driver Development Programme

intake at Tolman.

Aston Martin’s resurrected Driver

Academy has attracted a bevy of

customers for its new V8 Vantage

GT4. Class returnee Optimum

Motorsport will look to repeat its

2016 success with Mike Robinson,

joined by former HHC man Patrik

Matthiesen, while at Beechdean AMR

2018 Pro-Am runners-up Kelvin

Fletcher and Martin Plowman will

be a renewed threat after switching

from RJN’s elderly Nissan 370Z.

As the only team campaigning

the new-for-2018 BMW M4s, reigning

champion Century will again be a

podium threat, but the jury is out

on its all-new driver line-up.

With new cars from Track Focused

(KTM) and GT Marques (Porsche)

joining the mix, GT4 will be the usual

hotbed of intrigue. But if Multimatic

has its way, the game as we know

it could be irrevocably changed...