British F3/GT Championships Head for Brands
Showdown
17 September 2003
The 2003 BRDC British F3/GT series will come to a dramatic conclusion
over the weekend of 27/28 September when a superb programme of racing
will include rounds 23 and 24 of the British F3 Championship gripped
by AVON Tyres, and round 11 of the British GT Championship. With adult
admission at just £10, and children's admission and paddock transfer
FREE, this is a great chance for race fans to enjoy what promises to
be a day of high drama.
The weekend, which is supported by Malaysian Airlines, will be held
on the awesome Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit and will include a fabulous
support programme featuring some of the very best racing in Britain.
Adding to the drama will be the Holiday Inn SEAT Cupra Super Prix, which
has a £100,000 prize fund for two races. To add an extra dimension
to this special event, the second of the two SEAT races will run on
the Brands Indy circuit and will bring the curtain down on Sunday's
race programme.
Topping the race action will be the final two races for the 2003 British
F3 Championship, the world's finest proving ground for rising young
stars. This year 85% of the current Formula 1 drivers made their name
in F3, and the class of 2003 has spotlighted several future F1 prospects.
Although Alan van der Merwe (Carlin Motorsport) clinched the British
F3 title at Donington earlier this month, there is still much to play
for and the contest for the championship runner-up slot will finally
be decided between Jamie Green (Carlin Motorsport) and Nelson Piquet
Junior (Piquet Sport). With a gaggle of other potential race winners
in the field, the spectacle of the British F3 pack battling around the
Grand Prix circuit should be a fitting finale to a great season of racing.
Aiming to repeat its Donington victory will be the Menu F3 Motorsport
team, which is based virtually opposite the main gate to Brands!
However, it is in the F3 Scholarship class that there is the most at
stake. Three drivers will go head to head for the title at the end of
a season-long battle and anyone of them could emerge as champion by
the end of the second race at Brands. Ernesto Viso (P1 Motorsport) now
leads Steven Kane (T-Sport) by just one and a half points, while Karun
Chandhok (T-Sport) is still in contention as well. Their fight for the
title will be every bit as competitive as the contest for the final
two race wins of the season.
The best British GT entry of the season will put as many as 30 GT cars
on the grid for what promises to be a dramatic 75-minute race. The focus
of attention will be the contest at the head of the race as three teams
battle for the overall title. Going into the Brands race just five points
splits Shaun Balfe/Jamie Derbyshire (Mosler MT900R), Piers Johnson/Shane
Lynch (TVR T400R) and Tom Herridge (Mosler MT900R) and it is virtually
a case of winner takes all.
In the GT Cup class, a three-car Porsche squad from Tech 9/Gruppe M,
headed by 2003 champions Patrick Pearce and Matt Griffin, will take
on Morgans, Ferraris and Lotuses as the category fields its biggest
entry to date.
Ensuring tremendous support race action are twin races for the Carlube
TVR Tuscan Challenge the Powertrain Caterham R400 Challenge as well
as the SEAT Cupra action. Completing the fabulous programme are the
Dunlop Mini Se7en and Dunlop Mini Miglia Challenges and the final round
of the BRDC Single-Seater Championship.
Rob Huff, Stefan Hodgetts and Gordon Shedden are the SEAT front-runners,
while the season-long TVR Tuscan battle between Lee Caroline and David
Mason will finally be resolved. In the Caterhams, Dan Stilp and Dillon
Battistini will continue their fierce battle, which has one round remaining
after the Brands double-header.
See series calendar for British
GT Championship | British
F3 Championship
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Team Up for British GT Final
