Superb British GT Field for Spa

21 August 2003

A superb line up of 25 cars is set to contest round ten of the BRDC British GT Championship at Spa-Francorchamps on 31 August. The British GT field, which includes several European entries in a guest class, will contest the 1000km de Spa along with the cars from the FIA Sports Car Championship to make a total grid of around 45 cars in total.

All of the regular British GT contenders are entered, although several have called in third drivers for the race that is expected to run for around five hours. Championship leaders Piers Johnson and Shane Lynch will be joined by Simon Pullan in the Eclipse Motorsport TVR T400R as the young Lincoln racer makes his first British GT appearance of the season. Arch rivals to Johnson and Lynch are Shaun Balfe and Jamie Derbyshire, who have drafted GT ace Tommy Erdos into their Mosler MT900R.

The Dewalt Motorsport team intends to enter both of its Le Mans TVR T400Rs, with five of its Le Mans driver squad on hand. Richard Stanton and Mike Jordan will aim to continue the excellent pace they showed at Thruxton last time out, while Richard Hay, Rob Barff and Michael Caine will share the second car. Joining Stanton and Jordan will be current TVR Tuscan Challenge leader Lee Caroline for his debut race in a T400R.

Paula Cook will join Peter Le Bas and Ricky Cole for the race in the Xero Competition Chevrolet Corvette, while New Zealand GT champion Carl Hansen will share the CDL TVR T400R with Steve Hyde and Gareth Evans. However, the Rollcentre Racing team has yet to confirm if a third driver will join Martin Short and Tom Herridge in its Mosler MT900R. Despite the damage sustained in the Thruxton accident, both the Rollcentre and CDL teams are pulling out all the stops to be ready for Spa.

Former British GT champion and BRDC member John Greasley will return to the series to share the Glenvarigill Ferrari 360 with Hector Lester and Keith Robinson, while former British GT regular Rob Croydon will join Enzo Mucci in the Atlanta Motorsport Renault Clio V6.

Bob Berridge and his partner Amanda Stretton are each set to race in the pair of Porsche 911GT3 Cups from the Tech 9/Gruppe M squad, with Berridge likely to join newly crowned GT Cup champions Patrick Pearce and Matt Griffin. Elsewhere in the GT Cup class, ISL has acquired a replacement engine for its Marcos Mantis after a blow up at Thruxton and will have former single-seater aces Stuart Turvey and Oliver Jarvis in with Alun Edwards.

Making a welcome return to the championship will be Graham Nash Motorsport with its Porsche 911GT3RS, although the driver line up is yet to be finalised. With several other driver line-ups still to be completed, the stage is now set for the longest and most demanding race in the history of the British GT Championship.

See series calendar for British GT Championship

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