British GT: Everything you need to know ahead of Oulton Park

The British GT championship heads to Oulton Park for their second weekend of the season, here is everything you need to know.

Century Motorsport with early lead

The Silverstone 500 opened the British GT season with a bang leaving Optimum Motorsport with the overall victory with stand-in drivers Yasser Shahin and Garnet Patterson taking the top step. However, with the car being ineligible for points, it was the second placed car of Century Motorsports Jonathon Beeson and Charles Clark taking maximum points giving them an 11.5-point lead over Orange Racing’s Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton. However, with issues for many of their rivals across that opening weekend, the standings will certainly shake up across both the one-hour races being held this weekend.

2 Seas Motorsport and Barwell Motorsport would certainly be aiming to come back strong with retirements for both teams and troubles for their other entries while Optimum Motorsport will also be looking to get back into strong contention after winning the Silverstone 500, the pace in those McLaren’s look to be on top form this season. Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat qualified second for the Silverstone 500 ahead of Rob Collard and Hugo Cook, the two teams only just behind Paradine Motorsports Darren Leung and Dan Harper who were looking to claim their third win at the Silverstone 500. All five manufacturer entries into the GT3 class look relatively competitive this season as the season continues to Oulton Park.

Innovation Racing win on debut with Ginetta

Innovation Racing took victory on their debut in British GT at the Silverstone 500 after taking pole position with close competition from the Toro Verde GT Ginetta and the MK Racing Aston Martin. The three teams would battle it out early on but it was Innovation Racing who claimed the GT4 Class victory and looked set immediately to be in contention for the GT4 Championship. Optimum Motorsport looked strong as well after finishing third in a late race fight for victory with Innovation Racing and MK Racing while the Century Motorsport BMW and Toro Verde Ginetta sat only a few car lengths back by the line showing the competitiveness of both classes heading into Oulton Park.

The weekend ahead

Teams enter Oulton Park with a different dynamic this weekend, instead of the single three hour race they contested at the start of the season, two sixty minute races will be the battleground for more GT action over the weekend, with the single pit-stop and driver change even more crucial to get right with no opportunity to gain back time lost in another pit-stop later in the race. Drivers in the GT3 class will have to serve a minimum seventy second pit-stop time from pit-in to pit-out while GT4’s will have a one-hundred-second pit-stop time with Silver Cup entries in the GT4 class having their pit stop time extended by another fourteen seconds and carry an extra twenty-five kilograms of ballast.

Compensation time for the top three positions in the previous race will be in effect with ten seconds extra in the pitstops for first, seven seconds for second and five seconds for third in both classes. Each car will also carry extra ballast with fifteen kilograms added to first in the Silverstone 500, ten kilograms to second and five kilograms to third.

The race weekend will not run in it’s usual Saturday and Sunday format, with racing commencing on the Monday instead of Sunday due to the Spring Bank Holiday. Qualifying for the second and third British GT rounds commence on Saturday at 15:35 while the first race will begin on Monday at 11:05. The second race of the day will happen mid-afternoon at 15:45 in what will be excellent action and a great way for everyone to spend their bank holiday weekend.