British GT at Silverstone: everything you need to know ahead of Round 3

Over three decades, the British GT Championship has cemented itself as one of the UK’s leading national motorsport categories and is facilitated by world-renowned GT promoter SRO Motorsports Group.

For the 2024 season, Silverstone will host Round 3 (26-28 April) and ahead of the event, we’ve compiled a list of everything you need to know about the British GT Championship.

Classes

The huge grids in British GT – 43-strong as Silverstone – are split into two distinct categories. The first being GT3 and the second, GT4. Both of which are based on race-modified production supercars, popular among the world’s GT racing championships.  

Grading 

Pro, Am and Silver drivers all feature across the GT3 and GT4 categories. Pro-Am crews make up much of the field and, as the name might suggest, have a combination of professional and amateur drivers. Teams that feature a Silver driver in their line-up also vie for the Silver Cup.

Points system 

Points are awarded down to 10th position. For one-hour races, first to 10th receive the following points in descending order: 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6 4, 2, 1. For Silverstone’s three-hour race, an additional 50% is added to the existing points structure: 37.5, 27, 22.5, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3, 1.5.

Support categories

The British GT support bill is five series strong, featuring the ultra-competitive GB3 and GB4 championships, the Ginetta GT Academy and Ginetta Junior Championship entry-level series, and finally the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship.

Weekend format

The British GT schedule kicks off with an hour-long FP1 at 09:30 on Saturday morning, followed by another hour of Pre Qualifying at 12:05. Qualifying is split into four parts with both classes having two 10-minute sessions starting at 15:55 on Saturday afternoon.

Warm Up gets underway at 09:35 on Sunday before the race proper at 12:30. Silverstone’s British GT race is the joint-longest of the season at three hours.

Support category sessions are spread across the weekend for two full days of on-track action. Ginetta GT Academy Qualifying kicks off proceedings at 09:00 on Saturday morning and Race 1 of the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship rounds out the first day, while on Sunday the Ginetta GT Academy is first on track once again for Race 2, before Race 3 of the GB4 Championship at 17:31 draws a bumper weekend to a close.

Who to look out for: British GT’s star drivers

The British GT field is brimming with home-grown talent, as well as skilled drivers from further afield. Among them, are some familiar faces, such as Aston Martin F1 Driver Ambassador Jessica Hawkins as well as the father-son duo of ex-BTCC racers, Rob and Ricky Collard.

 Then there are the reigning champions, Darren Leung – yet to race in 2024 – and Dan Harper racing for Century Motorsport in GT3 once again this season. In GT4, Erik Evans remains with Academy Motorsport to defend the title while Matt Cowley has joined Paddock Motorsport for his 2024 campaign.

What happened at Rounds 1 and 2? 

In Round 1, Rob Collard established an early lead in treacherous conditions before handing over to son Ricky. The pair survived everything that was thrown at them to take a well-deserved win at the season opener.

This time on a drying track for Round 2, it was Sandy Mitchell and Alex Martin who headed the field from lights to flag. The Barwell Motorsport camp celebrated a superb double victory from the opening two rounds and will undoubtedly be looking to continue that form as the championship heads to Silverstone for Round 3 (26-28 April).

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