GT Cup Championship curtain raiser at Silverstone - article from Racing Exposure.com by Andrew Cliffe
Thu 08 Apr 2010
This is round one of The 2010 GT Cup Championship season and it is looking mighty impressive and Bute Motorsport ,the organisers, are expecting a full 48 car grid. The quality of the machinery and the level of preparation are superb. This is ‘multi-marque' GT racing at its best. The cars are split into three ‘Groups' based mainly on their lap time performance. The faster more powerful cars are in Group One and the less powerful in Group Three. Pre-season testing has shown that the cars within each Group are very evenly matched so we will, as usual, see close racing all the way through the field.
One of the major attractions for competitors in the GT Cup Championship is that there is always somebody to race with. You will see from the progamme that this really is a ‘multi-marque' Championship.. Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus, TVR, BMW, Honda, Venturi, Ginetta, KTM, and Marcos.
This is the opening round of the Championship so picking any winners is going to be tricky, particularly in Group One where the front running Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars of Andy Ruhan, Alex Martin and Jim Geddie will be up against the Ferrari 430 Challenge GTs of Leon Price, Jeff Leadley , Ian Hartley and new to Ferrari this season Gary Eastwood. You also need to watch out for Chris Randall's nimble Lotus Europa and the big TVRs of Michael Saunders, John Wilson and Danny Winstanley. Finally don't overlook Don Grice's very rapid BMW.
In Group Two it is again very hard to choose between the Porsche 996 GT3 cars and the Ferrari 360GT's. The quickest of these Ferraris should be Marco Pullen in the OMG car. But once again don't ignore the BMWs and those modified Lotus Elise and Exige. New to GT Cup this year is the Colin and Sam Mowle KTM XBow. This may not be ideally suited for the long straights of the Silverstone GP circuit but it is very quick through the corners.
In Group Three we have yet another eye watering mixture of cars, any of which could win the Group. It would take a brave man to pick between the Ferrari 360 Challenge, the BMW Z4 Coupe and the other less powerful KTM XBow... equally don't forget the long term GT Cup supporter Dave Botterill in his Porsche 944 Turbo. Will Goff moving into Group One this year might clear the way for Sarah Bennett-Baggs to become a regular podium visitor in her BMW Z4 Coupe. A newcomer to GT Cup will be the unusual Honda NSX driven by David and Rob Fern.
So get ready and maybe move towards Copse Corner and then stand back a bit to watch and even feel one million pounds worth of cars and around fifteen thousand bhp all arriving with you after the rolling start!
SEASON PREVIEW
The decision by Bute Motorsport to make The GT Cup a ‘Championship' in 2010 has really paid off. With around forty teams now signed up for the full season and even more drivers wanting to do the occasional rounds the pressure on grid numbers is building up. The opening round at Silverstone on the ‘Bridge' Grand Prix Circuit is looking to be the beginning of a very successful season.
The format remains much the same with two races per round, qualification and plenty of free practice, plus no ‘professional' drivers all topped off with the superb hospitality!
Group One becomes the home of the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars and the Ferrari 430 Challenge GTs. This is going to be an interesting season with Ferrari drivers Leon Price, Jeff Leadley, Ian Hartley and Gary Eastwood up against the Porsches of Andy Ruhan, Alex Martin and Jim Geddie.
Whilst the Porsches and Ferraris make up a large part of the Group they are certainly going to be challenged with a variety of interesting cars coming through the pack. Chris Randall in his rapid and rather nimble Lotus Europa, is sure to compete having been tuned to suit the class. Michael Saunders in his wild yellow Cerbera is back with a de-tuned engine and should be right on the pace. A new comer to watch could be Danny Winstanley in his green ‘hard top' TVR Tuscan. There is also Don Grice in his BMW E46 M3 which is yet another possible race winner. Another front runner looking at joining Group One this year is Will Goff in his Porsche 997 GT3, quite a change from last year's Aston Martin GT4! Also in Group One is Paul Cope and his remarkable Venturi 400 GTR. The Venturi was a front running car Le Mans car in the nineties.
In Group Two there are any number of cars that could win the Championship. The front runners here will be Marco Pullen in his Ferrari 360 and the Porsches of Robert Koenig and Chris Bentley. The BMWs of Barclay Dougal and Keith Webster will be right on the pace judging from their testing times, as is the KTM XBow of Colin Mowle, being run by Peter Hignett and ABG Motorsport.
Group Three demonstrates the variety that the GT Cup has become synonymous with and picking a winner is practically impossible at this stage. Dave Botterill will be back with rapid but near ‘historic' Porsche 944 Turbo, David Hathaway is back with his Ferrari 360, there are the usual flurry of Lotus Elise and Exige, plus Sarah Bennet-Baggs in her BMW Z4 M Coupe. She saw the podium several times last year. Just as in Group Two there is the ‘unknown quantity' of the Clubman's Spec KTM XBow of Tom Edwards.
There are several newcomers in Group Three who have the potential to be highly competitive, however much of the attention could be grabbed by the John Danby Racing Honda NSX driven by David and Rob Fenn. This is a bit of an unknown quantity in GT Cup. The GT Cup is probably the best supported GT Championship in the UK at the moment and it seems that Bute Motorsport with the assistance of MSVR have once again got the formula just about right.
The GT Cup Championship is going from strength to strength, providing the drivers and their teams a race calendar on iconic circuits against a variety of race cars that all will differ from round to round and therefore continue to produce exciting racing. This is backed up with Bute Motorsports gaining reputation for their high level of organisation and excellent paddock hospitality providing the drivers, their friends, family and sponsors a convivial environment to enjoy the weekend between the races!
GT CUP 2010 NEWS
Groups re-organised:- Last year's Group One has been shelved so the rapid Viper and Corvette will not be seen in GT Cup 2010. All the other Groups move ‘up one' .. so this year's Group One is broadly speaking last year's Group Two and so on. Groups are decided basically by a power to weight formula and then the organisers will decide which Group a car will race in.
All cars will have to present rolling road/dyno figures this year and the Organisers reserve the right to send a car away to be rechecked during the season.
Pirelli remain the sole tyre suppliers to the Championship and will be offering nitrogen as an alternative to air for all teams.
Snetterton Testing:- The current Group One Porsches have proved to be bang on the pace of last year's Group two cars. This will set up a great battle between the Porsche GT3 Cup cars and the Ferrari 430 GT.
Chris Randall and his Hoffmans Lotus Europa was a competitive 2009 Group One car. The team have agreed to reduce the turbo boost to put the car on the same pace as the Porsches and Ferraris. This has had the added bonus of allowing the car to run far cooler and gain reliability.
Gary Eastwood has moved over to a Ferrari 430 GT Challenge car and was delighted with it after testing at Snetterton. The car will be run by FF Corse and Anthony Cheshire said he was amazed how quickly Gary got settled into the Ferrari.
Snetterton testing saw Andy Ruhan and Jim Geddie right on the pace in their Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars.
Father and son team of Rupert and Alex Martin will be taking part in this year's GT Cup Championship. Rupert ( the Dad) will be in his Dextra sponsored Porsche 996 GT3 Cup car and Alex in his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car.
Another father and son team are David and Rob Fenn, they are new to GT Cup this season and they will be sharing the Honda NSX . This is a rare beast and new to GT Cup and will be running in Group Three.
Marco Pullen will be back with his faithful Ferrari 360.
The KTM XBows are coming! This year will see two XBows in the GT Cup. The specifications are different; the Tom Andrew car runs with a less powerful 240 bhp engine and is nearer ‘road going' specification so it will run in Group Three. Peter Hignett is looking after the rapid Group Two car for Colin and Sam Mowle. This is has around 300 bhp and various upgrades to its suspension and aero pack.
Colin and Sam Mowle will be the third father son combination in GT Cup.
Long term GT Cup supporter Colin Broster will be back racing in 2010 and is awaiting delivery of one of the new Chevron GR8s. Colin may be out in something else until the Chevron is ready.
Don Grice and his superb BMW E46 M3 which ran in Group One in 2009 has reached an agreement with the organisers to back off the power and add some weight and run it this season at current Group One pace.
Will Goff had a spectacularly successful year in Group Four last year winning almost every race in his immaculate Aston Martin GT4. This year Will is in the process of acquiring a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup.
Sarah Bennett-Baggs will be back with her BMW Z4 M Coupe. The team were gradually getting to grips with the car towards the end of last season so Sarah should be a regular podium visitor again.
