GT Cup Test Day - Donington Park 

Images by Ryan Frost ofLincs Media

16 March 2023 

In part one of our pre-season work covering the British GT Championship we looked at the GT cars from the viewpoint of the spectator photographer attending the media day. In this report we will look at the GT Cup test day that followed the Tuesday British GT Championship media day both of which were at Donington Park.

British GT Championship and GT Cup are two different championships, with the testing on Thursday for the Cup series which is mainly for amateur GT drivers. The grid for the GT Cup is also more diverse with six different classes allowed compared to the British Championship.

There is a crossover between the two-race series with drivers competing in both. So, I’m going to really confuse matters by talking about both events at the same time. 

Test days are always a strange event, especially if you are standing trackside as you are probably not aware of what the team are testing. Suspension, fuel maps, brakes and electronics will all have an effect on the times posted.

Will these times be a true reflection of how the team will perform one race day comes? In general no, race day is very different to test day. 

These cars come into their own on race day when they are driven on the limits of the car and the driver’s ability. So, we can take a look at the test day results and determine that this year’s fast cars and driver combinations will be at the top of the timing report, but it would be difficult to pull out a championship contender.

Or is it? During the British GT Championship Ian Loggie in the Mercedes-AMG GT3, sporting the coveted number one as last session's champion, topped the timing sheets. Ian Loggie will be sharing the great looking 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes with Jules Gounon for this year’s run at the GT3 title. Gounon wasn’t available for the Donington meeting so Phil Keen stood in for him.

British GT Championship Media Day

2 Seas Motorsport are running two cars in the GT3 class. Car 4 is another Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Jonny Adam and James Cottingham. I'm still undecided on which one of the 2 Seas cars has the best livery, but regardless, we should see them both running at the front of the pack as car four posted the third fastest time on the British GT Championship Tuesday test/media day.

British GT Championship Media Day

Splitting the two 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG was the #67 McLaren 720S GT3 Orange Racing by JMH Automotive driven by Simon Orange. Orange with Michael O'Brien won last year's GT Cup, so it looks like they are the Cup team setting the early pace for this season

British GT Championship Media Day

One team that is competing in both Championships is car 50 the Drivetac powered by Track Focused Mercedes Benz AMG GT3 who can give us a driver's insight into competing in both Championships in one season.

Race Report James Wallis Car 50

GT CUP - After a highly successful debut year in GT CUP GTH (GT4 homologated cars) myself (James) and my driver partner (Sam) have decided to step it up a level and enter GT CUP GT3 where we hope to collect another championship win after last year's GTH championship win. Testing this year has gone well and it hasn’t taken Sam or myself long to adapt to the MERCEDES AMG GT3.

We are now well prepared and ready for a highly competitive year in GT CUP with some big names on the grid, now all focus on round 1.

British GT - After a fairly dominant year in 2022 in the GT CUP GTH class winning the championship, myself (James) and driver partner (Sam) have decided we need to push our limits and abilities and therefore have decided to enter British GT GT4 which is the pinnacle of GT racing in England.

We are entering as an underdog this year in the Mercedes AMG GT4.  Myself and Sam are fully aware of how competitive it will be but we are both up to the challenge, now let’s go pot hunting!

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