British GT, Donington – Preview & Entry
Three Wins In A Row For Preci-Spark?

The 2009 British GT Championship finally arrives at Donington Park almost three months after it was originally scheduled to go there. With the building issues that caused the postponement now resolved, the focus will be on Sunday’s crucial two-hour race.

Crucial, that is, for the championship contenders; for if things go right for the Jones brothers in the Preci-Spark Ascari once more, they could have one hand on the trophy by the end of the weekend. Their lead is currently seven points over Dan Brown in the Rollcentre Mosler, with Hector Lester (still ruing that very costly underwear transgression at Snetterton) a further eight points back. A win this weekend for the twins will widen that gap to at least nine points, with only three races remaining.

Brown is still very much in the race, however, with he and Martin Short scoring 16 points in Norfolk on what was a very difficult weekend for the Rollcentre team. A fourth win for the MT900R will keep the title race very much alive.

But while everything went right for the Team Pyro prepared Ascari last time out, ABG Motorsport endured a torrid weekend; Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott coming away from East Anglia with just three points in their pockets. This has dealt an all-but fatal blow to their title hopes, but they are not out of it yet. A podium finish is the least that will suffice this weekend, though.

Donington sees the welcome return to the series for Alex Mortimer; the former BGT Champion and FIA GT3 front-runner replacing Michael Bentwood in the RPM Ford GT. If anyone knows how to drive one of these spectacular cars, it is he – and that is taking nothing away from Bentwood’s sterling efforts this season. With the longer race format and a track that should suit the car, could Philip Walker’s investment pay dividends on Sunday?

And there is another returnee in the Chad Racing Ferrari, although this time it is for only his third race in the series. José Balbiani makes the long trip from Argentina to Derbyshire, to this time accompany Paul Warren in the 430.

In GT4, Jody Firth and Nigel Moore have new opposition in the form of the Century Motorsport Ginetta G50, helmed by Nathan Freke and Benji Hetherington. Unfortunately, the Stark Racing G50 has had to withdraw from the next two rounds of the series due to budget issues.

Practice and qualifying take place on Saturday, with the race scheduled to begin at 13:20 on Sunday.