British GT, Donington – Preview
An End Of Season Barnstormer In Prospect

There’s a real ‘end of term’ feel to the final race of the season at Donington this weekend – a post-exam, let you hair down, kind of vibe - and the line-up suggests that the two-hour race will be a corker.

Seventeen GT3s and eight GT4s (technically speaking, one of the eight is in the Invitation class) make up the field, comprising five Vipers, seven Ferrari 430s, three Lamborghini Gallardos, an Ascari, an Aston Martin DBRS9, a Nissan 350Z and seven Ginetta G50s. But where are the Porsches? Where are the N24s?

Happily, the majority of the field comprises series regulars, in their regular cars - all the chopping and changing does get a bit tedious at times – but what changes there are appear to have been made with an eye on 2009.

Robin Mortimer’s Team RPM makes up almost a quarter of the entire field, with three Vipers and three G50s. While Nick Foster and Nigel Redwood continue their successful and effective partnership in the #2 car, the #7 Viper sees the GT3 debut of Steve Tandy and Richard Evans – both having raced in GT4 so far this season. The #1 car, meanwhile, sees the return of 2007 driver Henry Fletcher and the seriously underutilised Phil Keen; in what could be something of a dark horse entry.

It is with some trepidation, however, that we await the identity of Fletcher’s sponsor after his rather, ahem, unique, 2007 backing.

With James Gornall now being available to race, fellow-champion Jon Barnes joins him for a final time in the Team Trimite Brookspeed Viper. Out to stop them taking a fifth victory will be Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott; still looking for their first in the ABG Viper after coming close more than once.

One car definitely suited to the Donington sweeps is the Preci-Spark Ascari KZ1R, and the Jones brothers are still looking to avenge their nullified Knockhill victory. Expect sparks to fly.

The three Gallardos have encountered miserable luck all season – just one win between them – and it is to be hoped that the engine difficulties that have plagued them of late have finally been resolved.

For Tom Ferrier, Oulton Park was a long, long time ago and, more than anything, he’ll be just looking for a fair crack of the whip in the Tech 9 car. Likewise, Guy Harrington and Ben de Zille Butler must be looking back on their 2007 success with some fondness; but they know what needs to be done and will want to finish 2008 on a high. The second Team Modena car sees Rachel Green join Adam Jones, as they, too, seek their first win.

In contrast, 2008 has gone swimmingly for CR Scuderia, with all three of its driver pairings tasting the victory champagne en route to clinching the team title at Silverstone. Michael Meadows and James Sutton won last time out and will be looking for more, but Luke Hines, Jeremy Metcalfe, Paddy Shovlin and Michael Cullen have rarely been out of contention.

Phil Burton and Adam Wilcox will be hoping for rather more luck than they experienced at Silverstone, but now have a professional team of mechanics looking after the VRS Ferrari and so should go well.

And then, of course, there’s Allan Simonsen and Hector Lester. We may not get too many more opportunities to see the Great Dane in this series, as his stock soars ever higher, but he will again set the benchmark for others to follow this weekend in the CiM 430.

Matt Griffin and Peter Bamford arrive at Donington with a GT Open winners’ trophy stuffed in their pockets, which will have given them a big lift for this race. Keen v Griffin v Simonsen should be something to behold.

The ageless Nigel Greensall makes his 2008 BGT debut alongside series newcomer Duncan Cameron, who himself is the latest driver to graduate from the Ferrari Challenge. He couldn’t have chosen a more experienced partner for his first foray into the series.

Sunday is likely to see the series bid farewell to the Ginetta G50 as a GT4 contender; and with the G50 Championship defecting to TOCA, this looks like being the last time to see them at a BGT meeting, fullstop.

Joe Osborne and Phil Bailey crew the #50 RPM Ginetta, while Nigel Moore again drives solo in the #51 – does he eat a lot of garlic, or something? The #52, meanwhile, is crewed by 2007 GT3 champions Alex Mortimer and Bradley Ellis. After the events of Thruxton, a few months back, it is anticipated that the Clerk of the Course will hold a private drivers briefing for Ellis and Rob Austin, who again drives with Hunter Abbott.

Ian Stinton and Paul Marsh’s last outing in their Ginetta was a very successful Britcar 24 Hours, which saw the Stark Racing car finish seventh overall after a flawless run. They’ll be hoping to experience a similar level of success at Donington.

Richmond Racing field two cars for the first time; one for champions Matt Nicholl-Jones and Stewart Linn, under the IMS Motorsport banner, and an Invitation class entry for Andreas Bostrom and Bjorn Gustavson, under the team’s own name. Richard Hollebon has already let Nicholl-Jones and Linn off the leash, and they will again be at the sharp end of things; while the newcomers are an unknown quantity at present.

Finally, Promotorsport continue to develop their Nissan, in anticipation of a more competitive 2009 GT4 campaign. Derek Palmer Jr and Rick Pearson are again behind the wheel.

Free practice and qualifying take place on Saturday, with the race scheduled to start at 13:15 on Sunday.