Gunn back to Beechdean GT4 after Albert’s withdrawal BMW expands customer racing range with M4 GT4
Ross Gunn will return to the GT4 division of British GT at Snetterton this weekend to help Beechdean fight for a third straight title after regular driver Jordan Albert was forced to withdraw.
Gunn, 19, will share the team’s Aston Martin Vantage GT4 with Jack Bartholomew after Albert was forced on to the sidelines due to an unresolved issue. The news is a blow with Albert second in the GT4 points, just 17.5 down on Optimum Motorsport’s Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson.
Gunn lifted the GT4 title last season with Beechdean alongside Jamie Chadwick, and had been due to race the team’s GT3 entry alongside Andrew Howard, but that car has been ruled out of Snetterton due to damage sustained in the last race at Spa ( MN, , July 27).
“It’s hugely disappointing to not be racing the GT3, but being back in GT4 is a silver lining,” said Gunn.
“I feel desperately sorry for Jordan as he’s done nothing wrong all season and has been in the championship fight from the word go. It’s a cruel way to end his season, but I’m sure he’ll be back. “It will take some time to get used to a GT4 machine again. They move about underneath you a lot more than a GT3 does, so you’re constantly fighting it. “You also drive in your mirrors a lot more in GT4 with the faster GT3 cars coming past. “My main focus is to go in and help Beechdean fight for a third-straight GT4 title and Jack [Bartholomew] go for his first. I don’t know what the situation is beyond this race, so I’ll go in and do the best job I can.” BMW Motorsport will launch a new M4 GT4 challenger for 2018.
The German marque announced the new customer racing programme during last weekend’s Spa 24 Hours. The new car will be based on the road-going M4 Coupe and will carry over much of the running gear and the turbocharged three-litre six-cylinder engine.
The M4 GT4 is designed to bridge the gap between the M235i Racing production car and the M6 GT3.
BMW Motorsport boss Jens Marquardt said: “GT4 is currently experiencing a boom. It offers affordable motorsport with cars of technical high-quality and, therefore, attracts a wide target audience. The M4 Coupe provides the ideal basis for our new GT4 model as it is extremely sporty in its production version.”
Dutch tuning firm Ekris Motorsport built its own version of an M4 GT4 last season and is currently running the car in the European GT4 Series.