BLACKTHORN’S FIRST STEP TO THE TOP

BLACKTHORN embarks on its first full-time season in the British GT Championship this year with its sights on the pinnacle of GT racing.

Founded in 2022 by Am racing driver and entrepreneur Claude Bovet, with Dan Jeal as Team Principal and David Mcdonald as Commercial Director/pro Driver, Blackthorn is quickly establishing its place in the world of motorsport.

As a partner team of Aston Martin Racing, Blackthorn will field two new Aston Martin Vantage Evo GT3S in the upcoming

British GT season with a third non-evo car in reserve.

“This opens the door to racing events in Europe and globally,” said Bovet. “I just felt there was an opportunity with Aston Martin.

It’s a storied brand in sportscar racing that is committed to delivering an exceptional experience for its customers. The new GT3 Evo is a great competitive package.”

“I contacted them and, after good discussions, I made the decision to become a partner team. It’s taken the team in a direction we are all very excited about.”

While Blackthorn is aiming to climb the GT ranks globally, with the ultimate goal of competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the focus for this season is on the British GT Championship – the top category of endurance racing in the UK.

A statement of intent is having four-time champion and factory Aston Martin driver Jonny Adam as part of the team, where he will form a Pro-am partnership with Giacomo Petrobelli.

“We are thrilled to have such strong drivers in our two-car line-up for our first year in British GT,” said Mcdonald. “We are looking forward to an exciting year of racing and are confident we will be challenging at the front in both the Pro-am class with Giacomo and Jonny as well as with our Silver-am drivers of Matt and Josh. The whole team have worked hard over the winter months and we can’t wait for the season to get started.”

“Jonny was one of the key development drivers for the Evo, so he knows these cars inside and out. It’s massive for the team when you’ve got a guy who can really communicate with the engineers how this car works,” said Bovet.

The second car will include the Silver-am partnership of Josh Rowledge and Matt Topham, who Bovet describes as “go-getters” and who he believes will be podium contenders during the nine-race, seven-round British GT campaign.

“We are also incredibly fortunate to have been able put together a strong team of mechanics and engineers at Blackthorn which are additionally supported by AMR. With this team backing the drivers, I think we stand a good chance at a strong showing this year,” said Jeal. Both Aston Martin Vantage Evo GT3S that the team will run will also feature a stunning and unique livery created by Frank Stephenson, a renowned designer who has penned iconic supercars including the Mclaren P1, Maserati MC12 and Ferrari FXX.

Bovet said: “I’ve always admired Frank and his exceptional career as one of the foremost car designers, and I just thought it would be cool to have a livery made by him that really stood out – I thought, let’s try something different.

“It’s always good to stand out and if we do well it could become an important livery that people remember.”

Blackthorn also maintains a motorsport division, including ‘Blackthorn Racing with Ferrari’, where it runs a variety of its own cars as well as those of its customers, notably a Mercedes GT3, an LMP3 and two F3 cars, a Lamborghini GT3, and various

Ferrari Challenge cars and a GT3, to name a few.