Norfolk next for British GT

With the annual visit to Continental Europe crossed off the schedule for the British GT Championship competitors, attention turns to Norfolk, with the teams set to do battle in a pair of sprint races at Snetterton this weekend. Birch-backed Dailysportscar’s coverage with Mo Rehman continues.

Championship battles are in sharp focus as we reach the business end of the season, with both categories set to dole out their fair share of drama and entertainment in the sixth and seventh races of the year.

What can we expect from the races? Snetterton may not have the scenic vistas that Spa-Francorchamps offers, or the steep rises and sharp drops, but it does offer a technical challenge.

In fact, it often produces oddities in the results columns as well. Not since 2015 have drivers won at Snetterton en route to the title (Adam and Andrew Howard). It’s a place where dark horses often emerge.

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In the top category for GT3 cars, just four points separate the top three crews following the three-hour clash at Spa.

2 Seas’ Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss piled up the maximum 75 points over the first two races but have scored just 14 since. By contrast, Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam recovered from their non-score on the opening weekend to move within two, thanks in no small part to their victory at Spa in the Blackthorn Aston Martin.

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Optimum’s Morgan Tillbrook and Marvin Kirchhöfer are also in the mix after a consistent run through the first half of the season. The pair are winless so far with their McLaren, but are just a point off Blackthorn’s drivers and have a chance to make up further ground this weekend.

Hugo Cook, the only full-season driver in Barwell’s #1 Lamborghini, has also made inroads recently, scoring points in every race thus far and claiming a podium finish in Belgium. The Compensation Time penalty will hinder him and his teammate, Rob Collard’s, chances of success in Race 1, but there are reasons to be cheerful. Snetterton has always been a happy hunting ground for Barwell and the Lamborghini Huracan platform.

The Silver-Am title battle shouldn’t be ignored either. Beechdean AMR’s Andrew Howard and Tom Wood lead the way by 17.5 points after a strong showing in the Ardennes. But Bridger Motorsport and its fan-favourite Honda NSX GT3 are taking steps forward each weekend with fully season driver Johnny Ip.

Watch out too for the progress of Greystone GT this weekend. The plucky team has made real progress with its transition to racing on Pirelli tyres with its McLaren GT3 Evo this year after using Michelins across Europe in previous seasons. Oliver Webb believes the team shouldn't be counted out when looking at contenders for good results late in the season.

Meanwhile, in GT4, will Optimum and Century’s stranglehold on the category continue?

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Just two crews from those teams - Marc Warren/Jack Brown from the former and Ravi Ramyead/Charlie Robertson from the latter - have won a GT4 race this year. And that domination is, unsurprisingly, also reflected in the drivers’ standings, where Optimum’s duo lead the Century pair by 27.5 points in part due to Ramyead’s big incident at Oulton Park.

Don’t discount Mahiki Racing when looking at the cats in with a chance to get amongst the pigeons. The team was out of the gate rapidly in its first weekend with Ginetta’s GT4 package after opting to move on from Lotus for its three-car effort and appears poised to finally hit the top step of the podium.

Snetterton may be a Sprint round, but that hasn’t deterred two of the Endurance Cup-entered teams from joining the GT4 grid as guests. Jolt Racing’s Rupert Williams and John Ingram have opted to race regardless, while Team Parker’s Jon Currie and Phil Keen will be eager to build on their season-best third place at Spa.

Qualifying on Saturday is set to get underway at 15:45 local time, ahead of the two 60-minute races on Sunday at 10:50 and 15:05 respectively.

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