GT Cup 2009
6th January 2009
The 2009 GT Cup Series looks set for another excellent year despite the general economic doom and gloom. During it's debut season in 2008 The GT Cup attracted sixty competitors driving nine different makes of car. Marc Haynes had the idea for this new series back in the Summer of 2007 and organised a race at Snetterton at the end of that season. It was a great success and the series moved from strength to strength throughout 2008.
So what about 2009? Marc Haynes says "After last year it was obvious that we shouldn't make any huge changes so instead we have refined the class structure over the winter and carried on establishing power and weight figures for the various cars that are eligible. We made the decision not to take up the offer of ‘Championship' status so that we could spend just one more season fine tuning the regulations and keeping control of costs. Also we wanted to make sure we didn't lose the relaxed, friendly but very competitive atmosphere GT Cup generated in 2008. Another important factor was to keep the series open to National B licence holders so that novice drivers and those people that wanted to step up from track days could race in this ‘multi-marque' series. We plan to continue to promote high standards of driving and enforce the technical regulations. So far interest in the 2009 season has been extremely high including enquiries from European teams and we look forward to another great season."
This year the GT Cup will not only be visiting all the key UK circuits such as Brands Hatch GP, Donington GP, Oulton Park and Snetterton but will be on the support programme for the A1 GP round at Brands on May 2/4th and at the FIA F2 meeting at Donington August 15/16th . Another key date on the calendar is a new and exciting meeting at Knockhill on Sept5/6th. Called ‘The Knockhill 100' the event will be heavily promoted both locally and nationally. Pipers will lead cars onto the grid where time will be allowed for media interviews and VIP grid walks prior to the centre of the weekend's activity which will be a 100 kms race for The GT Cup.
The GT Cup is open to a wide variety of GT cars with each entry vetted by the organisers. One change for 2009 will be the introduction of a new ‘Racing Group' for FIA approved GT3 cars and other modified GT cars running to GT3 pace that were outside last year's original grid structure. As a result there will be three or four Groups based on power and weight with Group 1 consisting of the GT3 cars and Groups 2 to 4 being based on a similar structure to 2008. The 2009 Regulations will be available in mid January.
The GT Cup Lounge attracted unanimous praise from competitors and their guests throughout 2008 and it will be back for 2009. This is a substantial hospitality unit that can offer a full seated lunch for up to 120 drivers, teams and guests. During the weekend it is the centre of everything to do with the series and the drivers can all meet up for coffee, biscuits and a chat after the racing. This has generated a unique, relaxed, friendly atmosphere at every round.
Last season the quality of the TV coverage was excellent. Negotiations are still going on but 2009 could see the GT Cup appearing not only on various satellite programmes but also on terrestrial TV with either ITV or Channel 4.
