British GT turns down “wacky” Donington night-race, format stays the same
British GT will replicate the two-hour, single race format of its Donington season finale for its additional visit to the Leicester circuit in June, having dismissed the possibility of a “wacky” night race format.
Championship manager Benjamin Franassovici told MN in August that an ‘into the night’ race was among the options being considered for the extra Donington round, which fills the vacancy left by Rockingham on the calendar, but was wary of taking unnecessary risks.
“We did look at doing something different, wacky, but it had to make sense,” he said. “It needed to be packagable. We really had a good think and the issue was there was no point in doing something for the sake of doing something.”
Franassovici cited a 1900hrs curfew for track activity as a critical factor against a night race, and said that teams had “generally accepted” the proposal.
He added: “I’m not closing the door to introducing something interesting if it makes sense, like having the Am finishing the race which would be different to the end of season finale.”
The championship has 30 fully-paid entries, but Franassovici said he was prepared to keep the door open for any new GT2 cars that are built by the end of this year.
“If someone has a car and wants to try it out during the season then we will be happy to look at it and see how we could accommodate it for one or two events,” he said. “If we have space on the grid, we will do our best to see if it can be fitted in without disrupting what we have.”