What’s changed in GT3?
New cars, drivers and teams mean there’s an air of change about British GT this year.
Century Motorsport returns to the GT3 ranks for the first time since 2019 with the new M4 GT3, which makes its UK debut with Taiwanese driver Betty Chen. Her co-driver had yet to be announced as Autosport went to press.
Among the highest-profile newcomers is factory Mercedes driver Jules Gounon, who joins RAM Racing to partner two-time reigning Pro-am champion Ian Loggie. Calendar clashes mean Gounon will be replaced by Callum Macleod, who won at Silverstone alongside Loggie in 2019, for the Silverstone, Donington Park (May) and Snetterton meetings. RAM is back to two full-season entries, with 2020 GT4 champion Jamie Caroline stepping up to the top class alongside John Ferguson, his co-driver for two rounds last year in the Speedworks Toyota.
Caroline isn’t the only GT4 champion to make his debut in the domestic GT3 class – 2017 winner Will Tregurtha will partner GT4 graduate Mark Sansom in an Assetto Motorsport-run Bentley. Another GT4 Pro-am contender from last year,
Nick Halstead, steps up in a Fox Motorsport Mclaren 720S alongside Jamie Stanley.
There are new and returning teams, too. Multiple Porsche Carrera Cup GB title-winning squad Redline Racing enters 2019 GT4 race winner James Dorlin and Porsche Sprint Challenge GB graduate Alex Malykhin in a Lamborghini Huracan. 7TSIX (pronounced ‘76’) will run a Mclaren for 2020 GT4 Pro-am champions Euan Hankey and Mia Flewitt, who entered three races with Team Rocket RJN last year. That team makes its full-time return with GT4 graduate James Kell and
Simon Watts, while Greystone GT steps up from the GT Cup to run Stewart and Lewis Proctor, whose former Balfe team has cut ties with Mclaren and thrown its lot in with Audi after running an R8 LMS GT3 in International GT Open last year. The now Evo-upgraded model will be raced by two returning drivers: Balfe team patron Shaun Balfe and the vastly experienced Adam Carroll, both previous race winners who will be strong if they can adapt the car to suit the new Pirellis after running on Michelins last year.
Meanwhile, Paddock Motorsport pair Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher have switched from Bentley to Mclaren, making the Woking marque the best-represented on the grid with six entries.