International GT Open - Brands Hatch - Preview

The Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit hosts the latest round of the International GT Open this weekend with the usual entry bolstered by a number of British additions.

The battle for the championship is hotting up with Pierre Kaffer and Álvaro Barba's AF Corse Ferrari leading the standings with 4 wins and 144 points.

They haven't yet shaken off the Porsche challenge though - Newly (re) crowned LMS GT2 Champion Richard Lietz and Gianluca Roda are second in the Autorlando car (1 win, 136 points), followed by the IMSA Performance pair of Patrick Pilet and Raymond Narac (2 wins, 122 points).

The UK delegation will be naturally led by the Super GT category Ferraris of CRS Racing - Chris Niarchos and Tim Mullen and Chris Goodwin-Klaas Hummel. The Leicestershire-based squad will seek a third win with Niarchos-Mullen, after the two obtained in Imola and Spa, that currently puts the duo in fifth place in the overall standings.

There's a British car too in the Super GT category with the Aston Martin Vantage GT2 of Villois Racing for Wiser-Guerrero showing steady progress throughout the season so far.

The GTS category is also quite open with the Luxury Racing Ferrari F430 GT3 of Frenchman Jean-Philippe Dayraut only 2 points ahead (58 vs 56) of the Kessel Racing Ferrari of Pedro Couceiro-Marco Frezza. Stephane Ortelli though will add his considerable talents to the Dayraut cause again this weekend.

Also in the GTS category, RPM Motorsport has entered its Ford GT for team boss Alex Mortimer and Peter Bamford, the team looking to build on their double podium in the last round at Magny-Cours.

Trackspeed is entering one of its Porsche GT3 R's (with British GT Championship leader David Ashburn as one of the drivers), while Rollcentre Racing has entered a Mosler MT900 GT3 for Martin Short and Steve Quick.

Mtech has entered a Ferrari F430 GT3 for Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin, the latter being a familiar face in the GT Open for the last three seasons and a race winner in both categories. Craig Wilkins is out for a bit of GT Open action too, his Dodge Viper Coupé GT3 will be shared with regular British GT team-mate Aaron Scott. Finally, Cor Euser is expected to make his come-back to the Championship with two of his always popular Marcos Mantis.

Qualifying is on Saturday with two races on Sunday - And with the GT Cup grid also massing in Kent for this weekend it could be a real festival of GT racing in store.

All the action from Brands Hatch will be broadcast live throughout Europe by Motors TV.