More UK events delayed or cancelled
British GT has joined the British Touring Car Championship in delaying the start of its 2021 season amid the continuing impact of the coronavirus pandemic, while the British Racing & Sports Car
Club has become the first club to cancel March events.
BTCC organiser TOCA revealed last week that it was pushing back the start of its campaign by five weeks and announced a heavily revised schedule, which begins at Thruxton on 8-9 May and concludes at Brands Hatch on 23-24 October, in a bid to try to enable fans to attend as many events as possible.
British GT has now followed suit and, instead of beginning with its traditional Easter event at Oulton Park, the season is now set to start at Brands Hatch on 22-23 May, seven weeks later. It has shuffled its calendar around slightly, with Oulton taking the original September season-finale date, the April Snetterton round moving to August and the Donington Park season closer pushed back to October.
BTCC support series have welcomed TOCA’S decision to delay and praised the timing of the announcement. It means that just two – British Formula 4 and Ginetta Junior – of the five regular support categories are due to appear at the new opener, while the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB, Ginetta GT5 Challenge and Mini Challenge Trophy are set to also feature at the Thruxton event.
“I think it makes a lot of sense,” said Porsche GB motorsport manager James Macnaughton. “By shifting some of the events to later in the year, it gives more opportunity – hopefully – for some of the public to attend and hopefully some kind of hospitality for more events than we would’ve had.
“I also really like the fact that all the rounds are in a different order. Starting at Snetterton is good because it’s got a long lap, so those new to the championship won’t be troubled by the guys at the front of the field like they would at Brands Indy. A slightly later start also means people have got more opportunity to get budgets together, so there’s lots of benefits. It’s a very sensible move and is welcomed by us.”
Ginetta motorsport manager Ash Gallagher added: “I think it makes a lot of sense given the situation as it stands today. Doing it now, with as much time as we’ve got to plan accordingly, is a good call. There’s still no guarantee but things should be looking better.”
Meanwhile, the BRSCC has elected to cancel its 20 March Oulton Park and 20-21 March Silverstone events, which were due to begin the club racing season, amid the current uncertainty about when the situation will improve in the UK.
“We’ve been in talks all week with venues and some of the professional championships and, as a result, we believe it’s too early to start racing,” said chairman Peter Daly, who added that the lost meetings were “put in to get our calendar from seven to eight rounds”, so could easily be cancelled. “We had designed the calendar so we knew we could drop a couple of rounds without having to revamp the whole calendar.”
The changes to the BTCC schedule mean the
BRSCC has also had to move the Formula Ford
Festival back a week to 30-31 October.
Leading Ginetta Junior squad R Racing has assembled a strong six-car line-up for this season, which includes promising
2020 rookies Josh Miller and Tom Edgar.
Both race winner Miller, who was 11th in the final standings, and Edgar, who was sixth, showed impressive speed as last season progressed. They have moved to R Racing from Elite Motorsport and
TCR respectively.
They join Freddie Tomlinson (below) and Aston Millar, who are continuing with the team for a second season after being regular frontrunners last year. The line-up is completed by rookies Callum Voisin – the 14-year-old brother of 2020 title contender Bailey – and Mexican karter Ian Aguilera.
“Each year, our aim is to become stronger, and picking our line-up for 2021 took lots of consideration,” said team boss Jamie Ross. “We wanted drivers and families that would gel with the team and make the awning an enjoyable place to be. I feel we have a good mix of existing drivers and new faces to keep pushing the team forward.”
Former Fun Cup champion Henry Dawes will move into the Ginetta GT4 Supercup for 2021 with Century Motorsport. He contested a one-off GT Cup race in a G55 last year, which encouraged him to make the jump. “After getting behind the wheel of the G55, I knew I had to race it at the top level – the combination of the GT4 Supercup and the expertise of Century Motorsport were the perfect fit,” he said.