The GT Cup Championship will begin and end the 2012 season at Donington Park

The 2012 GT Cup Championship will be run across eight weekends and 23 races at six different UK racetracks.

Next season the Bute Motorsport run championship will run once more under the MSRV banner, and the series will race at three MSV owned tracks, visiting Brands Hatch twice while also racing at Snetterton and Oulton Park.

Donington Park hosts both the season opener and finale, falling on October 6-7. All weekends will include three races, with the exception of Oulton Park on July 21, which will host only two races.

“It’s a great calendar,” said championship founder Marc Haynes  “We’re going to Donington Park twice which is always good and we are back at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. New for 2012 will see the GT Cup Championship head up to Scotland to tackle the Knockhill circuit for what should be a really special event. I’m pleased with the progress made with the championship for next season, its early days still but I’m looking forward to next year.”

The current crop of GT3 machinery, including the Ferrari 458, will be eligible for the series in 2012, with a chassis dyno – also new for 2012 season – to aid with performance balancing across the field.

2012 GT Cup Championship calendar

April 28-29 – Donington Park
May 12-13 – Silverstone National
June 16-17 – Brands Hatch Indy
June 30-July 1 – Snetterton 300
July 21 – Oulton Park
August 18-19 – Brands Hatch GP
September 8-9 – Knockhill
October 6-7 – Donington Park

The series’ pair of races on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit had packed grids thanks to the series sharing time with the Monoposto series. However, the increased traffic bothered the Grays Motorsport driver little during a succession of dominating displays.

Having already taken pole position victory in the opening race was made slightly easier by a sfatey car period that ate up nearly half the 15 minute race duration, the intervention necessary after one car had failed to get away from the line at the start of the race.

Steele then got a good restart, catching his nearest rival unawares as he accelerated for the line, and then pulled away to take the checkered flag with second place Matt Draper 15 seconds in arrears in second place. Mark Terry and Kat Impey followed in third and fourth with Chris Needham – the only F3 Cup man aside from Steele in the Challenge top ten – completing the top five.

Needham moved up to third in the second race – taking 55 points for the Challenge – but it was Steele who eased away from the field to beat Terry by 20 seconds. In the course of the weekend Steele also ran the fastest lap in both races, giving him two maximum scores for the Grand-Am 200 Challenge.

There were also Challenge points being scored at Oulton Park in Cheshire where the Legends series was in action with three races.

Frontrunner Stephen Treherne suffered a difficult first race, a DNF denting his Daytona ambitions, though he bounced back with a sixth, then a win in the following two races. The other winner on the day was Dean Brace, taking victory in both of the ‘heat’ races.

The double victory moves Brace to tenth in the Challenge standings, and he may have climbed even higher had it not been for his retirement in the final race of the day after an accident when Ben Power had to brake sharply to make room for a rejoining racer.

The next action in the eligible series will include the Production Touring Car field with Adrian Churchill, Steele’s nearest rival, in his Vauxhall Astra trying to respond to Steele’s Brands sweep.

Sunoco Grand-Am 200 Challenge standings as of August 22

The Chevron GR8 GT was driven by Jordan Witt, the 20-year-old already well acquainted with the Chevron after racing the GR8 challenge and the Avon Tyres British GT Championship in the machine.

The younsgter suffered during the first race of the weekend, Jordan taking a hit on the rear of the car as he explained.

“It had been raining in free practice and we knew the car was quick against the leading Porsches and Ferraris, so I’d been praying for rain, and we got it. The first race was dry and a bit mad. I was expecting a steady start, and no contact for my first time out on the Pirelli slicks. However I was hit up the back on the first corner of the first race by a Ferrari, who went up and over my back end, damaging the car badly, which slowed me down a fair bit. But I still managed to bring the GR8 home in 7th place.”

Race two began in wet conditions, and with the Chevron on wet tyres, but running a dry set-up. Witt started from the third place he won during the dry qualifying session but had made it to the lead by turn three.

“After the chaos of race one,” said Jordan, “I knew I had to be ahead to do well. I let a Porsche go up the inside line for Paddock Hill Bend off the start line, and took the faster wet line around the outside, and went straight past three cars. Then I took the outside line at Druids Bend again, to pass the lead Ferrari and take P1. I was leading going into the Graham Hill Bend, where I had a huge moment, with full opposite lock on the brakes, but caught it and carried on, to first place, by over 11 seconds. I was very pleased.”

Jordan’s father David was racing in a Chevron Challenge Car, and recorded two race finishes after just seven events and ended the weekend in positive mood.

“He’d [Jordan] told me before the race; ‘dad, I’m going to pass you, just stick to your line.’ I’d been watching him doing really well while racing my own race, then he went out of sight, and I though ‘oh-no.’ The next thing I know, he’s up behind me flashing his lights and zipping passed me. After the race, one of the Ferrari drivers said Jordan did the same thing to him, and all he saw was his Helmet going past the window as he overtook him on the outside. Jordan did the Chevron brand proud. It was a great race, and really good fun.”

“It was our first race in the wet in the GT and Challenge Cars and they both worked really well – it just goes to show what a great car it is, quick in all conditions,” concluded Jordan. “The GR8 handled so well in the slippery conditions. It seems to go even quicker in the wet, which suits me too. I used to race motorcross when I was younger and I have a good feeling for racing in the wet. The GR8 feels so natural and neutral, a bit like a racing motorbike. You can feel the back moving about, but it’s predictable, with a bit of oversteer and nothing nasty or snappy about it. Having seen off Ferraris and Porsches, there’s no doubt that the GR8 is a real giant killer.”

Knox’s season before the weekend had been troubled, but the weekend before the racer had been at the Monaco Grand Prix, an experience he credits with reigniting his determination in his own racing.

The successful weekend began in qualifying, the Scot notching up two fast laps before returning to the pits to assess the gap to the rest of the field. While Knox sat in the garage, conserving his tyres his rivals turned lap after lap trying to unseat him from pole position. In the end, however, no-one could match Knox’s best time of 1:42.658, giving him pole position for both the first and second races.

Raceday saw changeable conditions, rain affecting the second and third races once Knox had started with a win over Lee Allan and Luke Caudle.

Knox was at home in the wet conditions; “coming from Scotland and racing up there for 15 years – I love the wet conditions,” and –living up to the billing -  his performance in the second race was dominant en route to a second victory. The third race for the Mini Challenge starts with the top six finishers reversed on the grid. However, seemingly unstoppable (and again on a wet track) Knox took only three laps to move up to second, past championship front runners Jason Richardson and Caudle.

Leader Lee Allan was the first man to hold off Knox to a meaningful extent, but a brave move around the outside at turn one put Knox in the lead and he pulled away, delighted, to complete the sweep of the weekend.

Knox’s performance not only moves him up the Mini Challenge standings, but also means he rockets up the order in the Sunoco Grand-Am 200 Challenge moving up 41 places to eighth thanks to the wins and twin pole positions. eHe H He is now one of three Mini drivers in the top ten in the race to win a drive in January’s Continental Tire Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Also in action at Brands Hatch was the GT Cup field, but Andy Ruhan – also in contention for the prize, suffered a disappointing eighth place in his second race, hurting his points average in the race to Daytona.

This weekend many more of the top runners in the Grand-Am 200 Challenge will be on track. Current leader – Production Touring Car man Adrian Churchill – will be at Thruxton, as will the Britcar Production championship where Kevin Clarke and Wayne Gibson of Intersport will be hoping to take a third win in as many races.

Aaron Steele and the rest of the MSV F3 Cup field will be at Spa-Francorchamps, where the Grays Motorsport driver will be looking for more points to give him back the Challenge lead he held at the start of the season.

Sunoco Grand-Am 200 Challenge standings as of June 6

The new competition gives competitors in several UK based championships the chance to win a race drive in the Continental Tyre Sports Car Challenge race that runs in support of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Grand-Am 200 Challenge also has the full backing of Grand-Am.

Like its bigger brother, which offers a place in the 24 itself the competition is open to drivers in number of series in the UK for which Sunoco is official fuel supplier. Eligible for the prize this year are drivers from the Britcar Production GTN, Legends 600, MINI Challenge, MSV F3 Cup, GT Cup and the Dunlop Production Touring Car Trophy.

“With the Sunoco Rolex 24 At Daytona Challenge now its third year it’s great to be able to run the Sunoco Grand-AM 200 Challenge alongside this and give something back to club level racers,” said Anders Hildebrand, MD of Anglo American Oil Company. “Despite the delay in the finalisation of the Sunoco Grand-Am 200 Challenge, it’s fantastic to now be able to launch the final design of the logo.”

Like the Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge the scores are averaged out across the year, with points awarded for pole position and fastest lap, as well as finishing position.

Races from earlier in the season have already formed a leaderboard of those chasing the drive in an American Muscle Car in January.

MSV F3 Cup driver Aaron Steele started the season with a perfect weekend to put him atop the standing, but fell back with a troubled second meeting at Donington Park. That allowed MINI Challenge race Jason Richardson to take the lead, but the latest races have dropped Richardson back to third behind Steele and Production Touring Car driver Adrian Churchill.

Leading the way for the Britcar Production drivers are the Intersport pair of Wayne Gibson and Kevin Clarke, Clarke the better of teammates by virtue of fastest laps and pole positions on the way to their two race wins so far this year.

Sunoco Grand-Am 200 Challenge standings as of May 24

Donovan raced the In2Racing Porsche 997 in the GT Cup Championship last season and it proved a race winning combination. The team hope the success can continue in the GT Trophy, beginning at the inaugural 2-hour GT Trophy race at Donington Park on the 3rd April.

Dudfield commented: “As regular front runners in the GT Cup over the past 3 seasons it’s going to be an interesting challenge for both Mike and the In2racing team.

“We hope to continue to support the series with both existing and new entries to the Trophy and Cup series throughout 2011. We have run Porsche, Lamborghini and Ginetta cars in recent seasons and have capacity to provide race-winning support to interested parties in 2011.”

Donovan is set for a busy season, competing the GT Trophy alongside racing in his recently acquired Group C Spice and supporting his son Adam, who is racing in the USA in the FF2000 series.

Team FF Corse will again run the London & Kent Metals sponsored car.

“I was really pleased to get the Ferrari up to winning pace in the middle of last season, especially as it was my first year racing Ferrari’s and my first season with Team FF Corse,” said Eastwood. “The GT Cup is a fantastic championship with lovely people and some great drivers, this year we are mounting a serious attempt to win races and the championship, it won’t be easy but we are up for it.”

The Ferrari will sport the livery of the Royal Marines Benevolent Fund, a charity which Eastwood raises money for through his on-track exploits. An annual track day at Brands Hatch last November raised over £30,000 as well as offering wounded Royal Marines the chance to take passenger rides in exotic cars around the Kent venue.

Eastwood’s 2011 campaign begins on April 16-17 with the first round of the GT Cup at Silverstone. A half hour highlights program will be shown on Motors TV in the UK.

Joe Osborne got his first taste of the new car, the 2009 European GT4 Cup champion a new face to the team for this year’s FIA GT3 European Championship. Mark Patterson, who will co-drive with Osborne in the twelve race championship as was also at the test, as was Matt Bell – who will perform double duty this year, driving in both European and British competition. Rob Bell – Matt’s older brother – was acting as driver coach for the team, but also got the chance to drive the Audi himself.

“The track was wet each morning but we were able to run slicks before lunchtime each day,” said team co-owner Richard Dean. “Matt, Mark and Joe each set good, competitive times while Rob did 10-laps at the end of the first day in his role as an official Dunlop ‘test’ driver. In general, a good test which unfortunately Zak [Brown] couldn’t attend due to a prior business commitment but importantly it allowed Joe to get some decent mileage in his first run at the wheel of an Audi.”

With the team running all three of their cars – they have confirmed a three car entry in this year’s 24 Hours of Spa – the drivers notched up over 1000 miles around the track that will host the third round of the European series.

The testing schedule will continue on British soil next month with British GT drivers John Bintcliffe and Jay Palmer taking the car around the Silverstone National layout.

Reprising his driving role for the team after the 1000km of Zhuhai Watts had started the ten lap race from third. However, after an extensive clean-up from an earlier race the first two laps of the GT race were run behind the safety car until the cement dust was cleared from the fast sweeper that is turn one on the Guia circuit.

Once released from behind the safety car the field generally held station around the twisting track, Watts holding third until the checkered flag. Hong Kong based Briton Richard Meins had started eighth in the 33-car field and though he slipped back to ninth due to a lack of grip from his Audi R8 LMS he climbed back to tenth before being forced to retire on the eighth lap of the 3.8 mile track.

Watts’ podium joins the first year haul of accolades, the Anglo-American team haing taken class podiums at the Spa 24 Hours and 1000km of Zhuhai. It also added to Watt’s personal haul of Macau GT race podiums, following a second and third in the last two years.

“My best opportunity for gaining a place was going into Lisboa on the first lap but with the race starting behind the Safety Car for two laps, I just didn’t have sufficient heat in the tires to challenge,” said Watts. “I attacked and pushed as hard as I possibly could and drove my heart out, I really wanted my first Macau GT race win but it wasn’t to be and that maiden GT victory continues to elude me. The grip level didn’t really come in for some reason and I had to take care of the brakes at times – there was absolutely nothing more to come.”

“After the last two days, I couldn’t believe that the race ran cleanly without any crashes – just when I needed a Safety Car it never came! But I’ve had a great time, really enjoyed myself racing for United Autosports again and just thoroughly love Macau.”

The team’s cars will arrive back their Yorkshire base on December 31, with on almost immediately being dispatched to the Hilton Metropole Hotel to promote January’s Autosport International Show.

The month should also herald the delivery of a new car from Audi before winter testing begins in February before 2011 campaigns in both the FIA GT3 European Championship and British GT Championship.

“We cannot be disappointed with a podium although it would have been nice to finish our first year off on the top step,” enthused team co-owner and MD Richard Dean. “I’m a little frustrated that we didn’t challenge for the race win. Our team came here as Macau virgins and perhaps that showed in the race – we will certainly do things differently when we come back to this unique race track again. It demands a different approach and that showed as the guys who finished in front of us are Macau ‘veterans’ while the regulations are not as closely matched to the GT3 rules that we abide to in Europe so we’ve learned lessons the hard way. I’m also certain that Audi will learn from its first visit to Macau with the R8 LMS.”

“Having started our year off at Oulton Park in April, to finish our début season off with another rostrum result, on the other side of the world here in Macau, we’ve all got to be proud of ourselves. It’s been an amazing ‘road trip’ for our team, comprising of a small number of permanent staff, who had not even started work on the Audi project this time last year. We’ve made a solid start and one which we plan to build on in 2011.”

The two cars will be in 2011 with additions to ensure faster pitstops during the race. The lead entry of the two cars – which will run the GT Cup category – will be driven by two of Maserati’s regular drivers in the FIA GT1 World Championship Alessandro Per Guidi being joined by Andrea Bertolini, who leads the championship with just two rounds remaining. Per Guidi already has race wins this year with the MC, taking two wins the GT4 European Cup at Paul Ricard and another pair at Brands Hatch.

The GT Cup-spec car will feature uprated aerodynamics, brakes and engine compared to the GT4 example.

The second car will be shared between Phil Baastians and Lorenzo Casè. Dutchman Baastians is a past champion in both Renault Clios and Alfa 147 competition in Europe, as well as having several starts in the Spa 24 Hours. Casè, perhaps more immediate experience for the race, again having driven the car in GT4 spec in the GT4 European Cup last year.

A single example of the GT4 machine will be in action at the Italian track in the hands of a Swiss privateer team and driver Andrea Chiesa and Gabriele Gardel.

Already having banked a fourth place from the first GT Cup race of the weekend Chris Niarchos and Tim Mullen set about aiming for the podium in the second race of the weekend around the legendary Belgian circuit.

However, the British pair had to begin their quest from 13th on the grid, Niarchos clambering up the field until the safety car came out on lap five for a big accident involving the two AF Corse Ferraris. The mandatory driver change completed in the pit stop window Mullen was able to pick off those ahead who Niarchos hadn’t already, taking a second win of the season for the duo.

The race had a very different outcome for their stablemates Andrew Kirkaldy and Klaas Hummel, who started further up the grid than the ultimately victorious duo – in fourth. They emerged from La Source on lap one in second after driving around the outside of the right-hand hairpin. However, a potentially promising run was ended on lap five when, only minutes after Kirkaldy had reported the rear of the car feeling loose, the car crashed at Blanchimont into retirement.

Disappointment was short lived, however, as the same two drivers took the win in the Dutch Supercar Challenge, though there was more than a little luck involved.

The win, Hummel’s first of the season, showed off his growing confidence in the car bolstered by the additional track race.

Such was the late, late nature of the team’s entry in the team the Ferrari started from 36th on the grid, but Kirklady had carved through the majority of the multi-class field in just one lap, jumping up to eighth after just one circuit, pushing on to take the lead and gallop away to a 12 second lead.

It was a lead Hummel tried his best to protect, lasting until the penultimate lap, when Martin Short in one of the DSC’s ever-present Moslers passed. Fortunately, a crash further around the track triggered the red flags, the CRS men being handed the win on countback.

“This has been an incredibly busy weekend for the team,” said the team’s MD, Mark Busfield. “We were delighted to see Klaas take his first win with CRS, in his home championship too. He is improving fast at the moment so we just need to keep the momentum up for him. On the GT Open side it was unfortunate that Andrew had the crash in race two, which we suspect was caused by a slow puncture. It was great though to see Chris and Tim come through to take another win. “