Beechdean-AMR’s Jordan Albert is looking forward to his first season in the British GT Championship following his post-season switch from the BRDC F4 Championship.
The 19-year-old, who scored two podiums and two wins for Sean Walkinshaw Racing in last year’s F4 championship, will team up with former competitor Jack Bartholomew in the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 that has won British GT’s GT4 crown for the last two years.
Needless to say, he’s looking forward to his Beechdean drive: “It is an amazing opportunity really because they are one of the best teams in British GT, if not the best, so I think it is a great opportunity to be with a great team and get some great results in my first year of sportscar racing.”
Ross Wylie, Jake Giddings, Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn all stepped into the team and saw absolutely brilliant results roll in, considering the pedigree it is safe to say Jordan is confident for 2016: “Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn’s results speak for themselves and it just shows that the team is very competitive and very good so I feel very confident. I’ve got a strong team mate as well so hopefully we can really hit the ground running and go for the championship.”
He did admit though, that it is going to be strange racing with someone – rather than against them. Jordan explained: “It’s strange because we were pretty much racing wheel-to-wheel last year, now we’re going to be working together to try and win so it’s going to be strange at first but I have a lot of respect for the guy, he’s showed a lot of potential in F4 last year and we get on really well – I think we’re going to work really well together.”
Albert moved to GTs following time in BRDC F4 (Credit: BRDC F4/Jakob Ebrey)
Both he and his new team mate Bartholomew moved into the GT scene from decent spells in single seaters which would have probably set them up for progression up the ladder if they hadn’t made the switch. That said, the pair are far from the first to make the same move with Jordan explaining his own decision behind making the move – funding.
He said: “The single seater world is really relying on funding and at the moment to get towards Formula One you must have loads. I knew myself that I was going to move to GT and sportscar racing eventually so I thought why not now and this opportunity came up with Beechdean so I just had to take it.
“I think single seaters were great and it was good for learning. I’ve had two solid years at F4 and I raced against Jack as well which was good! But now I think GTs are the right place to be because it provides the right progression, if you’re good and you’ve got the potential I think manufacturers can take you far.”
That is never truer than within the Beechdean squad, one half of last year’s GT4 pairing – Ross Gunn – now has an Aston Martin factory contract and a drive in the team’s GT3 car. For Albert, that speaks volumes of the GT world: “Ross has just got a factory contract with Aston Martin in only his second year with Beechdean so I think that just proves that if you’re good you can move on, you don’t have to have millions and millions of pounds in the bank. I just think it’s a lot fairer in terms of: if you’re talented and you show the potential they can take you really far.”
For now Albert isn’t looking that far ahead, and with the British GT Championship providing a stern challenge he is looking forward to testing himself against the best GT4 drivers in the land: “I think it’ll be interesting because it is Jack and I’s first year in GT racing, but like Ross and Jamie proved last year you can step into it straight away and be quick straight away so there’s no reason why we can’t do the same. I think it is going to be really good fun, I think it’s good to have competition to keep things interesting. I think it’ll be a really good year, I’m really looking forward to it.”
