I attended rounds 5 and 6 of the GT Cup Championship at Brands Hatch.
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. .
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.
GTC - Later model year Challenge Cup specification cars, with performance balancing where required.
GTB - Early year Challenge Cup cars with minimum specification changes together with modified saloon based GT cars.
GTH - For homologated cars running to manufactures GT4 specification.
GTA - Lower specification Cup, Challenge and one make series cars.
Brands Hatch is a drivers circuit that has up and down hill sections, tight turns and fast straights. All of this and the wide range of race cars made for an action packed weekend of racing.
Below are my photo's from the event.
The No 67 Orange Racing powered by JMH Mclaren 720S driven by Simon Orange and Tom Roche.
The No 7 National Motorsport Academy Mosler MT900 driven by Marcus Short and Morgan Short.
The No 72 Woodrow Motorsport BMW M3 GTR driven by Chris Murphy.
The No 13 Racelab McLaren 720S GT3 EVO driven by Lucky Khera and Euan Hankey.
The No 5 CTR Developments Porsche 935 driven by Richard Chamberlain.
The No 77 Enduro Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Morgan Tillbrook and Marcus Clutton.
The No 2 Topcats Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo driven by Warren Gilbert and Charlotte Gilbert.
The No 28 Kendall Developments Brabham BT62 driven by Paul Bailey and Ross Wylie.
The No 24 Greystone GT McLaren 720S GT3 EVO driven by Andre Borodin and Ed Pead.
The No 32 J&S Racing Audi R8 GT3 EVO2 driven by Sacha Kakad and Hugo Cook.
The No 33 G-Cat Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RS.
The No 62 Woodrow Motorsport Lamborghini Super Trofeo driven by Matthew Evans and Kevin Evans.
The No 50 Drivetac powered by Track Focused Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO driven by Sam Maher-Loghan and James Wallis.
The No 78 Paddock Motorsport McLaren 570S GT4 driven by Tim Docker and Jordan Albert.
The No 69 Makehappen Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 driven by Stephen Walton and Chris Hart.
The No 75 Team Parker Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup driven by Keith Bush.
The No 42 Ram Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 driven by Charles Dawson and Seb Morris.
The No 14 Inari Motorsports McLaren 570S GT4 driven by David Waddington and Adam Wilcox.
The No 82 Feathers Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT4 driven by James Guess and Tom Canning.
The No 999 Orange Racing powered by JHM Porsche 911 GT3 Cup driven by Patrick Collins, Will Dendy and Russ Lindsay.
The No 14 Greystone GT McLaren 570S GT4 driven by Phillip Carter and Michael Broadhurst.
Richard Chamberlain spins on the exit of Druids Corner.
After taking avoiding action the No 91 24-7 Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT4 driven by David Frankland and Ed Bridle takes avoiding action but winds up on the grass.
In the pit lane getting ready for round 6.
No 82 and 78 following 72 through Graham Hill Bend.
A tight battle for first place at Graham Hill Bend.
Paul Bailey (28) chasing Richard Chamberlain (5) for position.
Cars leaving the pit lane.
Rolling start sounds great.
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. The best sounding car on track was the Brabham BT62. 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 Lucky Khera, Tom Roche, Simon Orange and Morgan Tillbrook. Morgan was telling me that they had a problem with the engine, on the straights they were 5mph slower than the Mercedes. He was hopeful that the issue could be resolved before the end of the weekend.
I'm not going to reveal the results of the races, instead I'm going to encourage you to go and visit the GT Cup's YouTube channel and watch the races, a link is below.
I look forward to seeing how the rest of the season plays out.
For further information about the GT Cup please find links below to their website and YouTube Channel.
