BRITISH GT

The British GT Championship is gearing up for a dramatic 2004 with a new, twin-race format, professional drivers and a new venue in Mondello Park in Eire. This year is set to be the strongest line-up of drivers and teams in British GT History. There are currently over 10 kinds of different models of cars entered, with all the usual flagship models of Ferrari F360, Porsche GT3, TVR Tuscan R, Mosler MT900R, Corvette C5R, Lotus and Morgan.

The Championship will run under the auspices of Stephane Ratel for the first time, the experienced promoter responsible for the FIA GT and French GT Championships and the new Le Mans Endurance Series.

Stephane Ratel said: "We have experience in France of building the strongest national GT championship in Europe and we will apply the same regulations in British GT racing in order to help the category enjoy a strong revival. We have ensured that the calendar avoids any clashes between FIA and British rounds so that prestigious teams may compete in both series".

GT teams will be afforded more track time in 2004, with 90 minutes of free practice, 30 minutes of qualifying and two 60-minute races on the programme per race weekend. The GT machines are split into 2 categories, N-GT and C-GT, with N-GT being purpose built racing machines, and C-GT being more road derivatives from one make Championship racing such as the Ferrari Challenge and the Porsche Cup with only minor modifications allowed. For the championship it is compulsory that 2 drivers share one car, and they will make a pit-stop to change drivers and tyres between 23 and 37 minutes during each race, this year Adam will share the lead #62 DRM machine with the highly experienced Ni Amorim from Portugal.
	Both Adam and Ni must qualify the car for one race, and start one race per weekend, The top 3 finishers in each race will receive a weight handicap; the winner will have to carry 30kg, second place 20kg and third place 10kg for the next race, the maximum one car can carry in weight ballast at any one time is 60kg. As well as the weight ballast driver's are categorised according to their previous racing history and a 'time penalty' imposed, which occurs during the pit stop and driver change. At present only Adam and Ni Amorim have a time penalty in the British GTC class of 10 seconds.

The British GT Championship runs over 16 rounds at the country's leading venues. The opening rounds are at Donington Park on April 3/4 with Snetterton, Castle Combe, Oulton Park, Silverstone, Thruxton, Brands Hatch and Mondello Park in Eire all on the calendar, for more information about British GT please visit the official championship web site www.britishgt.com