Beechdean is BACK in British GT!

Beechdean AMR will make its return to the British GT Championship when it gets underway at Oulton Park in Cheshire this weekend.

Double British GT Champion, Andrew Howard, and three-time Le Mans winning Aston Martin works driver, Darren Turner, will take on a ferocious field of GT cars in the #99 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, in what is set to be the most competitive British GT Championship to date.

After two strong seasons in the European Le Mans Series, which included scoring the first European championship win for the team in 2016, team boss Andrew Howard explained his motivation behind a return to the UK series.

“We had a great time in Europe but it was time to come home,” said Howard. “British GT offers bigger grids in our class and judging by the entry list this is going to be a fantastic season of racing. Our sponsors prefer the UK market, it reaches our core market in the UK and for me personally, as a company director, British GT allows me more time to do my day job.

“British GT is a national championship but it has an international feel,” Howard continued. “It’s incredibly competitive so if you win here you have earned it! It’s a well-run and forward-looking championship.”

Darren Turner is looking forward to racing in a British championship again as his last full season in the UK was in the 2008 British Touring Car Championship. The last time he raced at Oulton Park was in 2014, in a Pre’66 Mini and he duly took pole position and won both races!

“Getting back onto circuits like Oulton Park and Brands Hatch is going to be a fun experience,” said Turner. “Oulton is a very old school circuit: it’s narrow with a grass run off then it's the barrier and that is something that can really focus a driver’s mind. It’ll be interesting to race against, not just the rest of the stiff competition, but most of my WEC team mates! I don’t think any of us were expecting to get this opportunity and it’s going to make for a great championship battle. After two years of working with Andrew in the European Le Mans Series I believe we have a good package and the opportunity to have a strong season ahead of us.”

Qualifying for the opening rounds of the 2018 British GT season takes place on Saturday afternoon at Oulton Park. Both one-hour races will take place on Easter Monday at 11:10 and 15:25. Click here on the day for the live stream!