British GT, Knockhill – Preview
Who Can Stop MTECH In The Scottish Hills?

Fifteen GT3s, 4s and Cups make the long trek up the M6 to Fife this weekend for rounds three and four of the 2010 championship; and while we are missing the Audis and the Aston the cars that will race should once more provide great entertainment for the Scottish spectators.

Nine GT3s – the core of the championship – will fight it out on the tight 1.3 mile circuit, with eight of them having every intention of stopping MTECH taking any more wins to add to the double-top from Oulton Park at Easter.

Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron came close to their first win at Knockhill last year – only a driveshaft failure preventing the achievement – but they were unstoppable in Cheshire last month and have to be considered favourites this time round. However, the ‘Jones factor’ was neutralised by two crashes for Godfrey last time out, and they also see the Caledonian track as a happy hunting ground for the Preci-Spark Ascari, so a close fight is guaranteed.

Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott took the second win at the corresponding meeting last year and Wilkins in particular will be looking to repeat that feat in order to erase the memory of his Oulton mishap that prevented them from even racing.

Chad Racing again has three Ferraris – two Scuderia and a 430 GT3 – taking part in the races and will have learned much from the opening rounds; and from last weekend’s FIA GT3 races where their car was very quick. José Balbiani loves this track and his young teammate Juan Garriz showed impressive pace and maturity in his opening race; and the two Argentines are sure to impress again. Dan Brown and Chris Hyman will be looking to make up ground lost after a difficult first meeting in the #21, while Paul Warren and Tom Ferrier will be hoping to have just one car to worry about this time as they hunt for points and podia.

With Allan Simonsen on Hankook duty at Spa, Hector Lester has once more called on the services of Stéphane Daoudi to join him in the Rosso Verde Scuderia for this meeting. The duo took a podium last year, but will know that a repeat will not be easy. Meanwhile, Adam Wilcox and Phil Burton are still looking for that first win in the Predator Scuderia. Might it at last arrive in the Scottish hills?

After an excellent start to its racing year, Trackspeed arrives in Scotland on the back of three successive podium appearances in GT3 racing. Britcar and Porsche Carrera Cup racer – and BRDC Rising Star – Glynn Geddie makes a surprise debut in the 911 GT3 R, having previously been expected to race in the Cup class with his father, Jim; "It's all a bit last minute but it will be good to get behind the wheel of the GT3-R, and we should be on for a pretty strong result. David runs a very professional and efficient outfit in Trackspeed and I'm looking forward to working with everyone in the team and maintaining the form that they displayed at Oulton."

Despite his protestations that there should be a fourth driver grading for drivers like him – Lead – Ashburn showed at Oulton Park that he can still produce the goods when the occasion demands it.

Three Ginetta G50s, one KTM X-Bow and one Lotus 2-Eleven make up the G4 field this weekend, with both winners from Oulton joining battle once more.

Benjamin Harvey and Rory Butcher lost out to a hard charging Christian Dick in the first race of the season, but in the second the ABG X-Bow was dominant. Dick is again joined by Jamie Stanley in his G50 and they are likely to again be the main opposition to the green KTM.

Chris Bialan and Simon Mason found that there was still much to learn about the 2010-spec Lotus at Oulton, but even so they claimed two third places. If they have had the opportunity to test in between meetings, the nimble open-topped car could be a lot closer to the front-running pace.

Joe Osborne and Nathan Freke will again be acting mainly as mentors to their less-experienced teammates at this early stage of the season. Osborne had an excellent debut in the Mühlner Porsche at Silverstone last weekend and will no doubt be buoyed by this while he develops the rookie Osman Yusuf, while Freke will be inspiring Vibe Smed on to greater pace in the Century Motorsport car.

Only one entrant in the Cup class again, sadly; although strangely it is not the Kinfaun Porsche that makes the trip. Instead, the Jamie Hunter Racing Porsche 997 of Steve Hunter and Derek Pierce makes its debut in the series. About this team DSC knows absolutely nothing, so we’ll have to go and find out on Saturday.

The timetable for the BGT at Knockhill is, frankly, bizarre; with Saturday seeing only the two one-hour free-practice sessions, while Sunday sees qualifying and both races:

Free Practice 1: Saturday 11.00am - 12.00pm (60mins)
Free Practice 2: Saturday 3.15pm - 4.15pm (60mins)
Qualifying 1: Sunday 8.50am - 9.05am (15mins)
Qualifying 2: Sunday 9.10am - 9.25am (15mins)
Race 1: Sunday 11.45am (60mins)
Race 2: Sunday 4.00pm (60mins)

Ours not to reason why.

MH