PGF-Kinfaun AMR bring third V12 Vantage GT3 to British GT

Phil Dryburgh (Kirkcaldy) and John Gaw (Tidmarsh) will return to the Avon Tyres British GT Championship grid this year in an Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, adding yet another Aston Martin entry to the British series in the marque's Centenary year.

The gentleman driver pairing made two appearances in 2012 with the V12 Vantage GT3 under the Cyber Racing AMR banner, but have opted to enter as PGF-Kinfaun AMR to reflect both drivers business interests; PGF being Production Glassfibre, Dryburgh's glassfibre manufacturing business, and Kinfaun, Gaw's side consulting practice.

The Kinfaun name has been present in racing on multiple occasions before, and last appeared in British GT during the 2010 season opener at Oulton Park, when Gaw and Dryburgh entered a GTC Porsche 997; the pair took class wins in both 60-minute sprint races at the meeting.

As Managing Director and Team Principal of Aston Martin Racing, Gaw's interest in having a good season is two-fold, and long-term team-mate Dryburgh, with whom he won the 2010 BritCar 24 Hour race at Silverstone, and who only started racing five years ago, is hungry to improve and enjoy himself along the way.

Gaw and Dryburgh's entry to the series brings the total of Aston Martins on the grid to four (including the Complete Racing GT4 entry of Steve Chaplin and Tom Wilson), a mouth-watering prospect for the British series and the highest number of full season Aston Martin entrants since 2006 when the venerable DBRS9 GT3 was the weapon of choice.

Quotes

John Gaw, Driver:

"We enjoyed ourselves last year in the two rounds of British GT that we entered, and the decision to compete in the full season this year was an easy one for three reasons; the cars, the circuits and the format. If you're a gentleman driver like Phil and I are, a GT3 car is a nice race car to drive, and having driven many different GT3 variants we can say the Aston is particularly easy to drive. British GT this year is going to see some of the best GT3 racing in the world at Pro-Am level. The circuits British GT visits are a very attractive selection for us, and the format works very well. Its weekend based, very good if you work during the week like we do, and there are no clashes with any major races I need to attend in my role at AMR. British GT is famed for making its Pro-Am format work well, hopefully giving everyone a chance to get a good result at some point. Despite my connection with Aston Martin Racing, we will run exactly the same way and the same specification as Beechdean and Barwell; one of the reasons we bought the Aston is because it is a 'future-proof' car. There are no planned expensive upgrades year after year, and for 2013 we only have a different battery, clutch, and drop gear, that's all, and these are all lifed components. We might possibly have different restrictors depending on the outcome of the balancing tests in February, to unlock the built-in potential of the V12. Controlling costs in my view is so important to the stability and longevity of GT3 going forward, and one of the key design principles that I wanted to ensure on the Aston GT3 was built-in performance that can be unlocked whenever the organisers deem it necessary, rather than developing expensive upgrade packages every year to ensure the cars are competitive.”

Phil Dryburgh, Driver:

"This year in British GT is looking like one of the best. John and I always say to each other that we'd like to enjoy our weekends and that is what we did at Silverstone and Donington last year. John had good pace, and I was there with the first five or so amateurs. Silverstone could have gone better for us if we had got the pit stops right, and as such we expect to be competitive this year. For me, I'm very happy driving quick cars at nice circuits, and hopefully we can get one or two results to celebrate, and if needed he can be replaced by one of the AMR factory driver to liven things up a bit! In all seriousness though ultimately I'd rather be fifteenth on this grid than second on a lesser grid and as I said for us it’s about enjoying ourselves; you will find me one of the happiest people you see in the pit lane. I'm very much looking forward to benching ourselves vs. the other Aston Martins on the grid and racing against Jonny (Adam), who I've been a big supporter of over the years, will be particularly fun. The inter-Aston competition will be a decent rivalry and add a bit of spice itself, and I hear from John there might just be more Astons to enter British GT still.”

Round one of the series is at Oulton Park in Cheshire over the Easter weekend (30/Mar-1/Apr) with ticket details and more information available on the official Championship website, http://www.BritishGT.comand on the official Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/BritishGT.

British GT