Team Manager Bas Leinders looks ahead to the British GT Championship

With three cars in the field this year in British GT, Team Manager Bas Leinders looks ahead to the fresh challenge of fielding two entries in the GT4 class, as well aiming to defend the teams’ drivers title in GT3.

‍Q: It’s been a busy off season getting ready for the British GT Championship. Tell us a bit about the programme you have been running for Ollie and Bradley.

‍“After receiving the new car, we did some good testing in order to get to grips with the car for the drivers and also for the team. We think we are well prepared to start at Oulton Park. but the real test will be the race itself.”

‍Q) It’s round one of the championships this weekend. Ollie and Bradley are in the Silver class and therefore carry additional ballast. How do you think that will impact on their chances?

‍“In the past it seems to be struggle for Silver pairings with the extra ballast, there have not been many pairings who manage to win races in this configuration. I do not really understand why they have more weight unless you want to avoid Silver-Silver pairings, yes a Silver driver should be and probably is quicker than a Bronze driver but the other Silver is usually slower than the Pro drivers in the other car so that should all level out without the extra weight. We will give it our best.”

‍Q: You have had perhaps not as much running as you would like with the new GT4, like many teams, how has that programme progressed?

‍“Unfortunately, one of ours we only received a few days ago and we have not been able to do as much running as we would have liked but this is how it is, and we will make the best of the situation. The car seems to be nice to drive and hopefully it will be quick against our opposition.”

‍Q: Mike makes a welcome return to the team. He has proven to be a champion in the past in GT4 with Optimum, how do you rate his – and the chances of Patrik – and Jack and Connor?

‍“Both our pairings have chances of winning races, the good thing about Mike and Patrik is that they both know the championship well so from experience I know this makes a difference for not making silly mistakes. If you stay out of trouble your chances to win increase massively, it seems silly to say that, but I can assure you that I have been astonished many times about what some teams and drivers do that in the end loses them a great result!”