You may be new to British GT or you may have followed it for a while but you’ve never fully understood the rules and how everything works so with the help of the championship organisers we’ve made this quick guide of everything you need to know about the championship, how it works and what the drivers can win.
CLASSES
•GT3 and GT4
•Cars not homologated as either GT3 or GT4 can run as Invitational entries at British GT’s discretion
•GTC remains a legal but currently unused specification
•Rules include performance balancing and handicap weights
DRIVER GRADING
•Pro/Am driver crews are the bedrock of British GT. These consist of professional drivers graded as Silver (or higher) and amateur/gentleman drivers graded as Bronze.
•Crews consisting solely of Amateur or Silver drivers may also enter, although the latter’s car will be carefully balanced by the GT Bureau to ensure it competes at the same pace as Pro/Am line-ups, thus allowing both to challenge for victories.
•Silver and Gold driver pairings are not permitted.
CHAMPIONSHIPS
GT3: Drivers’, Teams’, Pro/Am, Silver Cup, and Blancpain Gentleman Driver Trophy
GT4: Drivers’, Teams’, Pro/Am, and Silver Cup
REIGNING CHAMPIONS
GT3 Drivers’: Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam
GT3 Pro/Am: Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam
GT3 Silver Cup: Ahmad Al Harthy
GT3 Teams’: Barwell Motorsport
GT4 Drivers’: Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn
GT4 Pro/Am: Oz Yusuf and Gavan Kershaw
GT4 Silver Cup: Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn
GT4 Teams’: Academy Motorsport
Blancpain Gentleman Driver Trophy: Andrew Howard
Sunoco Fastest Driver of the Year: Jonny Adam (GT3) and James Nash (GT4)
Rookie of the Year: Luke Davenport
Allan Simonsen Award: Alexander Sims
POINTS SYSTEM
Races lasting two hours or more are worth an additional 50% points
1 hour races:
1. 25 2. 18 3. 15 4. 12 5. 10 6. 8 7. 6 8. 4 9. 2 10. 1
2-3 hour races:
1. 37.5 2. 27 3. 22.5 4. 18 5. 15 6. 12 7. 9 8. 6 9. 3 10. 1.5
AWARDS
Blancpain Driver of the Weekend:
Most impressive amateur performance across the weekend wins a Blancpain clock (wall-mounted)
Sunoco Fastest Race Lap of the Weekend Award Awarded to both the GT3 and GT4 driver who sets their class’ fastest race lap. Weekends comprising two races will still only reward the overall fastest time in both classes. The driver with most fastest laps at the end of the year will be crowned at the end-of-season prize-giving.
TYPICAL RACE WEEKEND FORMAT
British GT race weekends typically run Saturday-Sunday. The exceptions to these are Oulton Park (Saturday and Bank Holiday Monday) and Spa-Francorchamps (Friday/ Saturday).
Day 1
40mins Free Practice 1
20mins Additional Bronze driver practice
50mins Free Practice 2
10mins GT3 Am Qualifying
10mins GT3 Pro Qualifying
10mins GT4 Am Qualifying
10mins GT4 Pro Qualifying
Day 2
10mins Warm-up
1/2/3hrs Race 1
1hr Race 2 (Oulton & Snetterton only)
PIT-STOP AND DRIVE TIME REGULATIONS
•In races lasting two hours or longer the top three finishers in each class from the previous round must respectively serve an additional 20, 15 and 10-second success penalty during their mandatory pit-stop.
•For one hour races these success penalties are 15, 10 and 5 seconds.
•Competitors must make at least one pit-stop during all British GT races.
•All cars are subject to a minimum pit-stop time. This starts as the car crosses the pit-in line and ends as it triggers the timing beam at pit-out. Anyone found to be under this time must serve a stop/go penalty to the same value
as they were under time (eg 10secs too fast in the pits equals a 10secs stop/go penalty).
•During one-hour races the minimum time a driver can spend behind the wheel is 25 minutes. This minimum time rises to 50 minutes for races lasting two hours or longer.
•Failure to adhere to these time scales will result in a stop/go penalty or additional time added post-race.
QUALIFYING
There are always four qualifying segments determined by driver grading and class…
•1x GT3 Am
•1x GT3 Pro
•1x GT4 Am
•1x GT4 Pro
…but their significance depends on the number of races being held that weekend.
•2x one-hour races: each car’s Am and Pro driver’s best individual time will determine the grid for Race 1 and Race 2, respectively.
•1x 2 or 3-hour races: each of the Am and Pro’s fastest lap times are combined to determine the starting order. The lowest combined time takes pole for each class.
•Each of the four sessions last 10 minutes.
•Classes are split, meaning GT3 and GT4 cars do not run at the same time.
•Drivers must complete two timed laps (not including in and out laps).
TYRES
Each car is limited to a number of sets of tyres per weekend:
•Dry weather sets at one or two-hour events: 5x for GT3, 4x for GT4 (plus spares).
•Dry weather sets at three-hour events: 6x forGT3, 5x for GT4 (plus spares).
•Wet weather sets at all events: unlimited for both classes. 8 By Marc Waller
