Record 38 Car Full Season Entry For 2019 British GT Championship
A record 38 full-season entries will contest the 2019 British GT Championship. The series鈥?27th year features more cars than ever before. Only circuit restrictions have prevented British GT from accepting even more cars this year but despite that, the list comprises 10 manufacturers across its three classes. 14 GT3s built by seven manufacturers (both the biggest numbers to contest British GT鈥檚 senior class鈥?since 2016) are confirmed. Indeed, only the Mercedes-AMG GT3 has previously raced in the UK鈥檚 national GT championship. Driving talent in the top class sees a total of 13 British GT titles. Reigning champion Jonny Adam (seen below with 2018 co-Champion Flick Haigh) will be eager to extend the GT3 and overall wins record beyond his current 14 while also monitoring the progress of Phil Keen who remains just one behind. Meanwhile, the GTC class also returns full-time to British GT for the first time since 2013 courtesy of a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and WPI Motorsport, which os raxing to evaluate a GT3 graduation as the season progresses.
Elsewhere, GT4 has a record-equalling 23 cars and eight manufacturers. Four models - the Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4, Ford Mustang GT4, KTM X-Bow GT4 and Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport, are either brand-new for 2019 or have never previously contested a British GT round. With GT4 champion Jack Mitchell and runner-up Ben Green graduating to GT3, the stage is set for new contenders to emerge. Reigning Pro-Am title winners Nick Jones and Scott Malvern head the current list of eight Pro-Am crews, while 13 are registered to contest the Silver Cup. Just three of GT4鈥檚 23 driver line-ups remain unannounced. Further entries across all three classes are expected to race at Silverstone, Donington and Spa-Francorchamps. In other news, all nine of this year鈥檚 British GT races will be streamed live for the first time ever after Spa-Francorchamps was added to the schedule. Coverage of the championship鈥檚 annual trip to Belgium will be shown live on British GT鈥檚 website and Facebook page, as well as SRO鈥檚 GT World Youtube channel, just like each of the six UK-based events. Benjamin Franassovici, British GT Championship General Manager: 鈥淭he response from existing and new teams and drivers has once again surpassed our expectations. We previously limited ourselves to a maximum of 36 full-season entries but the unprecedented level of demand since registration opened last October has required us to re-evaluate. 鈥淕T4 remains as popular as ever and I鈥檓 delighted to welcome so many new teams, drivers and cars. Greater capacity would have seen us break 2018鈥檚 class records, but we should still be extremely pleased to have matched the same number of entries and manufacturers. 鈥淟ikewise GT3 where we have one more full-season entry than last year. However, it鈥檚 the abundance of new models that have impressed and excited me the most.
New Porsche 718 - This is definitely not a routine midlife makeover for the Porsche Boxster and its Cayman cousin. Not just are the mid-engined twins being given another name for 2016 - they'll now be known as the Porsche 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman - it's all adjustment in the motor sound as well. It's out with the actually suctioned level sixes we know and cherish, and in with a couple of fresh out of the plastic new level four turbos. Could less truly be more? To figure out, CAR's Georg Kacher joined Porsche's winter trying group in Canada's Northern Territories for a white-knuckle ride in a 718 Boxster model. As some time recently, there's a decision of sweetly weighted manual gearbox or quick moving PDK twin-grip auto. Primary auxiliary change is a re-built back suspension support, to oblige all the new pipes and cooling, with an additional motor mount. Why not a littler uprooting turbo'd level six? Since it essentially wouldn't have fit; Porsche lets us know it was sufficiently troublesome to discover space for the level four and all the additional pipes and cooling.
From the traveler seat, and on the banana-skin dangerous frigid streets of Yellowknife, it was hard to feel an incredible contrast in through and through jab between the two motors. Yet, subjectively, the littler 2.0-liter motor really feels partially more dexterous and responsive, while the 500cc-greater unit didn't feel like it addressed the throttle pedal so excitedly. After a smidge of starting turbo slack, the oomph constructs all the more quickly and trips to a taller top. The 2.5's all baritone snarl at higher revs, however our ears put the 2.0 ahead on soundtrack - it's the more honed, more forceful sounding of the pair, particularly when fitted with the discretionary games deplete framework. In any case, there's sufficiently still room in the motor sound - and the extent - for a normally suctioned six, for superior models like a future Cayman GT4 and Boxster Spyder. Sensibly, New Porsche 718's not done anything uncommon on the suspension front. Yet, there are minor changes - half-crawl more extensive back wheels, another, grippier tire compound, gently changed suspension kinematics, greater brakes and more delicate soundness control programming. Truly the delicate top Boxster has sat underneath the car Cayman in Porsche's estimating progressive system, however that is going to change.