Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS at Brands Hatch

 

I attended the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS event at Brands Hatch.

This is a Championship of World Class drivers racing in GT3 cars. The 10 round championship take on Europe's best tracks and is split equally between the Endurance Cup and the Sprint Cup. The races at Brands Hatch are the opening rounds of the Sprint Cup.

Within this Championship, teams compete for overall victory as well as 3 class honours, Pro, Pro-Am Cup and Silver Cup.

In January it was announced that Valentino Rossi had signed for the WRT team and would be driving an Audi in the forthcoming season, so the tickets for this event had sold very well. 

Cars for this event must comply with the FIA GT3 regulations and the six types of cars making up the field would be:

Audi R8 LMS Evo II GT3.

Ferrari 488 GT3.

Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

McLaren 720S GT3.

Mercedes AMG GT3.

Porsche 911 GT3 R.

A 26 car field would provide great racing and a soundtrack to match.

Below are my photos from the event.

The 111 JP Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Patryk Krupinski and Christian Klien (Pro-Am Cup).

The 46 Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Evo II driven by Valentino Rossi and Frederic Vervisch (Pro). This was Valentino's debut at Brands Hatch and in round 2 of the Sprint Cup, Valentino scored his first championship points by bringing the car to the chequered flag in 8th place. 

The 32 Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Evo II driven by Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor (Pro).

The 25 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi R8 LMS Evo II driven by Aurelien Panis and Patric Niederhauser (Pro).

The 26 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi R8 LMS Evo II driven by Nicolas Baert and Gilles Magnus (Silver Cup).

The 159 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Manuel Maldonado and Ethan Simioni (Silver Cup).

The 18 GSM Novamarine Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo driven by Gerhard Tweraser and Isaac Tutumlu Lopez (Silver Cup).

The 66 Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo II GT3 driven by Pieter Schothorst and Dennis Marschall (Pro).

The 54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3-R driven by Aidrien De Leener and Christian Engelhart (Pro).

The 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 driven by Hugo Delacour and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli (Pro-Am Cup).

The 188 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Miguel Ramos and Dean Macdonald (Pro-Am Cup).

The 11 Tresor by Car Collection driven by Simon Gachet and Christopher Haase (Pro).

The 12 Tresor by Car Collection driven by Mattia Drudi and Luca Ghiotto (Pro).

The 53 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 driven by Uylsse De Pauw and Pierre Alexandre Jean (Silver Cup).

This car and team would take overall victory in the opening round of the Sprint Cup.

The 30 Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Evo II GT3 driven by Benjamin Goethe and Thomas Neubauer (Silver Cup). 

The 86 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Petru Umbrarescu and Igor Waliko (Silver Cup).

The 89 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Timur Boguslavskiy and Raffaele Marciello (Pro). This car and team would take overall victory in round 2 of the Sprint Cup. 

The 38 Jota McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Oliver Wilkinson and Rob Bell (Pro).

The 56Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3-R driven by Giorgio Roda and Klaus Bachler (Pro).

The 33 Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Evo II driven by Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Christopher Mies (Pro). That's what I'd call fast food.

The 52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 driven by Louis Machiels and Andrea Bertolini (Pro-Am Cup).

The 93 Sky - Tempesta Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Christopher Froggatt and Eddie Cheever (Silver Cup).

The 78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo driven by Alex Malykhin and Ben Barker (Pro-AM Cup).

The 88 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Jim Pla and Jules Gounon (Pro).

The 87 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Casper Stevenson and Thomas Drouet (Silver Cup).

The 99 Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo II GT3 driven by Alex Aka and Nicholas Scholl (Silver Cup).

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Brands Hatch watching these cars in action, if you can get to a race in this championship please go and see them in action. These are world class GT drivers in some superb cars. I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of this season unfolds and to go back to Brands Hatch for this series again next season.

The next race in the series will be at Magny-Cours in France on 13-15 May.

For further information about this championship please visit:

https://www.gt-world-challenge-europe.com/

https://www.youtube.com/gtworld

Or you can download the App on your smartphone.

 

  

GT Cup Championship Rounds 5 & 6 at Brands Hatch

 I attended rounds 5 and 6 of the GT Cup Championship at Brands Hatch. For these rounds, the GT Cup was supporting the Fanatec GT World Challenge.

The GT Cup Championship was founded in 2007 by Marc Haynes as premium GT Sprint series.

The aim of the championship to to provide a genuine driver race experience, putting sportsmanship and fun first. Add to this access for the drivers to quality race tracks giving the best service at an affordable price. Finally they look to share their passion with like minded racers and to create an environment to delight the drivers, teams, families and supporters.

The GT Cup aim is to help amateur drivers improve their race and driving skills with a professional drivers and have fun doing it. 

Professional drivers may enter the championship with an amateur driver as a two driver team.

Former drivers from this championship have gone on to race in the British GT Championship, World Endurance Championship and more.

The minimum requirement to enter the GT Cup is to hold an Inter Club (Race National B) License.

The GT Cup is home to a broad range of past and present GT race car. The grid is split into 6 groups.

These are:

 GT3 - For homologated GT cars running to the manufactures specification and subject to either current or the FIA performance figures that will be set down on the GT Cup balance of  performance document before each race. Cars in this class include the Mercedes AMG GT3 and and Ferrari 488 GT3.

GTO - Open specification cars built by very low volume manufactures (subject to meeting the balance of performance and the maximum power to weight for the group). GT2 and GTE class cars, modified challenge cars, cars that are not derived from universally recognised volume GT manufactures. Cars in this class include the Brabham BT62 and the Radical RXC GT3.

GTC - Later model year Challenge Cup specification cars, with performance balancing where required. Cars in this class include the Ferrari 488 Challenge and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo.

GTB - Early year Challenge Cup cars with minimum specification changes together with modified saloon based GT cars. Cars in this class include the Marcos Mantis and and the BMW 1 Series. 

GTH - For homologated cars running to manufactures GT4 specification. Cars in this class include the McLaren 570S GT4 and Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4.

GTA - Lower specification Cup, Challenge and one make series cars. This class is mostly made up of Ginetta's.

Brands Hatch is a drivers circuit that has up and down hill sections, tight turns, minimal run off areas and fast straights. All of this and the wide range of race cars made for an action packed weekend of racing. As this was my first visit, I arrived early to have a look around to see what how Brands Hatch compared to other circuits I've been to. There is a lot going on away from the track, cafe's shops, trade stands and a fun fair. 

I based myself around Druids Corner and Paddock Hill and finally the Paddock Hill Grandstand.

Below are my photo's from the event.

The No.14 Greystone GT McLaren 570S GT4 driven by Phillip Carter and Michael Broadhurst.

The No.61 Scott Sport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 driven by John Dhillon and Andrea Amici.

The No.28 SB Race Engineering Brabham BT62 driven by Paul Bailey and Ross Wylie. This car had the best engine sound of the day, I mentioned this to David Brabham in the paddock and David said he hears that a lot. 

The No.77 Greystone GT McLaren 570S GT4 driven by Mark Hopton and Euan Hankey.

The No.4 Tecserve Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Grahame Tilley and Will Tregurtha. This is a new car to them for this season, last season they were driving a Nissan GTR.

The No.10 Team Hard Ginetta GT4 driven by James Taylor and Daniel Krywyj.

The No.66 Enduro Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Morgan Tillbrook and Marcus Clutton.

The No.69 Make Happen Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 driven by Stephen Walton and Chris Hart.

The No.23 Greystone GT McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Ian Campbell and Oli Webb

The No.138 Geoff Steel Racing BMW Evolution. 

The No.13 Team Webb Lamborghini Super Trofeo driven by James Webb and Tom Webb

The No.17 Orange Racing powered by JMH McLaren 570S GT4 driven by Russell Lindsay, Patrick Collins and Will Dendy. 

The No.86 Caffeine Six by Parr Motorsport driven by Tim Creswick and Chris Dymond.

The No.9 Topcats Racing with Hex.com driven by Warren Gilbert and Jenson Lunn.

The No.7 Raw Motorsport Radical RXC driven by Steve Burgess and Ben Dimmack. This car would take overall victory in the sprint race (Round 5) after a close battle with Morgan Tillbrook.

The No.3 Topcats Racing with Hex.com Lamborghini Super Trofeo driven by Charlotte Gilbert and Charlotte Birch. I spoke to Charlotte Gilbert in the paddock bout the differences between the Marcos Mantis she was driving last season and her new Lamborghini. Charlotte told me that although the acceleration in the Marcos was slightly quicker, the braking and the aerodynamic package on the Lamborghini was far superior and that she was still getting used to the Lamborghini.

The No.56 FF Corse Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo driven by Roy Millington and Benny Simonsen.

The No.78 Fox Motorsport McLaren 570S GT4 driven by Tim Docker and Jordan Albert.

The No.8 Abba Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Richard Neary and Sam Neary. Sadly this car would not get to race over the weekend as a back injury ruled Richard Neary out of driving.

The No.26 Paddock Motorsport McLaren 570S GT4 driven by Temur Chohan and Tom Roche. I have known Tom for a few years as many of my blog post feature his company, Car Chase Heroes. If you look just above the number 26, his company logo is on the car.

The No.247 Racelab Ferrari Challenge 488 driven by Lucky Khera and David McDonald.

The No.11 Ram Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Mike Price and Callum Macleod.

The No.16 Ram Racing Mercedes AGM GT3 driven by Ian Loggie

The No.67 Orange Racing powered by JMH McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Simon Orange and Michael O'Brien. This car won the Saturday Pit Stop Race (Round 6).

The No.6 Century Motorsport Ginetta G56 Supercup driven by Alex Stevenson and James Kellet.

The No.25 Paddock Motorsport McLaren 520S GT4 driven by Kavi Jundu and Adam Hatfield. 

The No.51 Valluga Racing Porsche Cayman RS Clubsport driven by Neil Maclennan and Cameron Fenton.

The No.50 Valluga Racing Porsche Cayman 718 RS Clubsport driven by James Wallis and Sam Maher-Loughnan.

The No.42 24-7 Motorsport Porsche 991.2 driven by Adrian Watt.

The No 80 Greystone GT McLaren 570S GT4 driven by Ron Trenka and Jon Lancaster.

From the Grandstand

I'm a big fan of this championship as you get close racing thanks to the Balance of Performance document. The cars look and sound incredible. In the paddock, It's a friendly atmosphere, the drivers and team members are happy to talk to you. During my walk around the paddock, I spoke to Charlotte Gilbert, Paul Bailey, and very briefly to Tom Roche as he was on he way to a briefing.

As I was on my way out, I saw David Brabham, I spent a good while chatting with him about the Brabham BT62. He signed my programme and had a photo taken with me.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season unfolds, I really would advise going to an event if you are able to.

And finally a big shout out to Brands Hatch, it's a great circuit with lots going on. I will be back at Brands Hatch hopefully before this season ends.

For further information about the GT Cup please find links below to their website and Youtube Channel.

https://www.gtcup.co.uk/

https://www.youtube.com/user/GTCupUK