The British GT Championship will race at the historic Spa-Franchorchamps circuit it was confirmed today, with a visit to the Belgian venue replacing a race at Magny-Cours.
The newly added race will be on June 4/5 according to the revised calendar.
“This is great news for the championship and for the competitors,” said British GT manager Benjamin Franasovicci. “When we published the calendar back in November there was no Spa option available to us, but that has changed now.”
“Although we are sorry not to be visiting Magny-Cours, we are delighted to be going to Europe’s best sports car racing circuit.”
The event will also see a new race format with the series' normal double-header of hours races or single two hour event replaced by a single two-and-a-half-hour races with at least two pit stops, the organisers describing the event as “novel for the teams” and appear hopeful that it could see several teams fielding three-driver squads.
It is a move that seems to be popular with drivers, Aaron Scott, who won one of last year's Spa races in a Dodge Viper, saying “I can’t imagine that any driver in British GT would be disappointed with the prospect of racing at Spa.”
Announced alongside the Spa event were a number of more minor changes. The race at Snetterton is moved back a month to the bank holiday weekend of August 29/30, while all the other dates remain the same, with the championship culminating with a two-hour 'into the night' race at Donington Park on October 17.
All the races will feature a scaled back race weekend, with team's being spared the expense of testing on Fridays by two 60 minutes practice sessions on Saturday as well as qualifying, before the race the following day.
SRO also confirmed the continuation of TV coverage for the series, once more featuring in a 30 minute program on Channel 4 in the UK, plus hour long shows on Motors TV across Europe.
Revised provisional calendar 2010 Avon Tyres British GT Championship
03-05 Apr Oulton Park with British F3
08/09 May Knockhill
04/05 Jun Spa-Francorchamps (2.5hr race)
17/18 Jul Rockingham with British F3
14/15 Aug Silverstone GP (2hr race) with British F3
29/30 Aug Snetterton with British F3
25/26 Sep Brands Hatch GP with British F3
16/17 Oct Donington Park (2hr race)
Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
