Paul Hollywood, the nation’s best-known baker and star of the Great British Bake Off, took part in his inaugural race for Beechdean AMR this weekend, as he officially announces his move into the motorsport field.

Hollywood has taken part in his first ever competitive race in the Britcar Sports and Touring car Championship at Silverstone, alongside 2013 British GT champion Andrew Howard. Paul and Andrew finished a creditable 2nd in class in both races with a 4th overall in the last of the televised events.

Paul has now fulfilled a lifelong dream to get behind the wheel of a high performance racing car in a competitive event, and he will continue to race in the Beechdean GT4, culminating in an appearance at the Le Mans Festival in June 2015.

The overall objective is to work towards Paul racing at the highest possible level, taking part in the Le Mans itself in future is the ultimate dream. Andrew Howard, owner of Beechdean AMR said “Paul’s enthusiasm for cars and racing comes across strongly. Once he was behind the wheel, it quickly became apparent that he is a focussed racing driver and has the talent to race a car. The aim is to take Paul through various categories of competitive racing, from GT4, GT3 through to GTE and then, backing dependent, on to the big prize; the time we’ve spent together on the track and his first race performance suggest that this is attainable.”

Hollywood, a long term racing fan, has been working with Andrew – who also owns Beechdean Ice Cream Group, one of the UK’s largest ice cream producers – for the past few months to reach a competitive level. Paul comments “I thought baking was difficult to learn, but racing takes it to a whole new level. I hoped that I’d be a natural and that it would be intuitive but I’ve really had to work for it. It’s been no piece of cake.”

He will be racing at Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, and ultimately the Le Mans Festival.

“There’ll be more to come from Beechdean Ice Cream Group and Paul – watch this space…” comments Howard.

Motorbase / Oman Racing Team

As promised by team boss David Bartrum just a few weeks ago in Monteblanco, Motorbase would return to the 2015 British GT series with a different format to which they finished lasts.

Firstly, the team would be entering in a three V12 Vantage GT3 format lead by the #2 car of Ahmad Al Harthy with newly signed Daniel Lloyd. An unfortunate position of having Michael Caine's driver grade rise to Gold in the UK but not in Europe left the 2014 GT3 runners up squad with a Gold-Silver format that would now banned in British GT forced the requirement to change.

A second car would be for the returning Rory Butcher and his part time 2014 driving companion Liam Griffin in the orate and black #6 car.

The third, and more significant announcement made at the Media Day was that the third car would be piloted by former PGF-Kinfaun driver Phil Dryburgh with non other than Motorbase's own BTCC driver - Matt Jackson.




Speaking to Dryburgh he said that he was "absolutely delighted to be racing in 2015 again and especially glad that a mutual deal between him and the team was to be had".




JWB Motorsport

Last but no means least sees a late entry for 2014 GT4 champion Jake Giddings driving a JWB Motorsport prepared V8 Vantage GT4 alongside Kieran Griffin - the same car and team Kieran Griffin shared with his brother Liam in the AMR GT4 Challenge last year.

Having competed in the Creventic series over the winter months Giddings leads both his new team and new team mate into their first British GT season so it will be a steep learning curve for all.

The 2015 Aston Martin Racing Evolution Academy squad has been unveiled at the manufacturer's state-of-the-art headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire UK and includes stars of the future who will race in four of the world's top national and international GT championships.

The 2015 British GT championship kicks off on Easter Monday with the first round at Cheshire’s Oulton Park, where Beechdean AMR claimed third place in both races last season. With a reputation as the country’s toughest test for both car and driver, Beechdean aim to start the season with two consistent results in GT3 and GT4 races over Easter weekend.

2013 British GT driver champion, Andrew Howard, and Aston Martin Racing Factory driver, Jonny Adam, return to the championship in their Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage GT3 alongside new drivers, Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn, in the Beechdean GT4 Aston Martin.

Pre-season testing has been positive for both cars, and with young talent Chadwick and Gunn, Beechdean AMR are hoping to excel among the full grid of cars in the first attack of the season.

Jonny Adam “I am excited to get the British GT underway. We have advanced in terms of set up with the Beechdean GT3 Aston Martin over the winter and Andrew is driving very well. It's our 4th year with this car and as a pairing, so we are confident ahead of the Oulton park weekend, a circuit that I love to race at.”

Andrew Howard “Our testing at both Monteblanco and Oulton Park has gone very well with the new Avon slick tyre for 2015. The championship looks very competitive this year both in GT3 and GT4. As a team, our goal is to have two consistent races this weekend and start our championship off in the best way possible.”

Jamie Chadwick “Testing has been really positive, Ross and I work very well together and the dynamics and energy are great within the Beechdean AMR Team. This season’s GT4 field is very competitive so we are under no illusions but I am confident that we have the right ingredients for a successful season.”

Ross Gunn “The winter testing programme has certainly gone to plan, and I feel very comfortable in the car already. There is still progress to make from my side, but I feel that both Jamie and I will be able challenge for the podium at Oulton Park. I am really looking forward to the start of the season.”
Source - Beechdean

Whilst we try and find some time to write up the goings from the recent Prologue for the FIA WEC at Paul Ricard here's a few snap taken by Aston Martin Racing and the WEC - just to wet your appetite for the forthcoming season.






















Photo credits - WEC / Aston Martin Racing

Thirteen Aston Martin cars feature on the current British GT entry schedule evenly split across the GT3 and GT4 platform, entered across eight teams.

As all bar one car where present at the official Media Day at Brands Hatch earlier this week we were able to collate a few notes and thoughts from the teams as to what they expect from the series.

22GT Racing

Aston Martin Heritage runners from Derby, 22GT Racing return to the British GT championship after a few years absence since team boss Tom Alexander last ran his Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3. For this year the team have purchased one of the former MP Motorsport V12 Vantage GT3's for former British GT Champion Jon Barnes and GT rookie Mark Farmer.





British GT will be just one series that the team shall be tackling this year alongside entering the International GT Open with their GT3 (different driver line up), AMOC GT4 and Britcar with their V8 Vantage GT4 and various historical events with their DBRS9 GT3 and DB4GT. In the words of one team member - "it will be mega!"

Beechdean Motorsport

The 2013 GT3 champions and 2014 GT4 champions return to the championship with both their GT3 and GT4 cars. Whilst the 'headline' act remains the same with team boss Andrew Howard retaining the driving services of Jonny Adam the #407 GT4 car has an all new and younger driver line up.

Jamie Chadwick moves over from tin tops to GT4 racing together with former BRDC F4 single seater race winner Ross Gunn and that makes these 'peskie kids' one of the youngest driver line ups around in GT racing. The season will represent a steep learning curve for the drivers but history has shown that the team has the talent and depth of knowledge to give them all the tools for the job they'd need to succeed.



With what has been recorded as being Howard's last season in British GT before he elevates himself and the team into the realms of the European Le Mans Series and beyond we can be under no doubt that 'Scoobie' will be going all out for race and ultimately the championship win - they'll certainly be one of the favourites this year for the championship.




Quantamatic Racing

Wanting the push the envelope of their driving abilities, former Caterham drivers Terry Langley and Mike Hart enter their beautifully liveried and Team Parker Racing prepared Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4.

With a few testing sessions now under their belts the team still hadn't been able to accomplish all of their early goals due either small technical issues or weather/track conditions pushing obstacles in their way. Even at the Media Day bad fate was to beset them when the tiny error of slightly crossing onto the grass when entering the braking zone into Surtees put the car into a spin, the spinning car with the changes in air pressure inside the cockpit blowing out the windscreen putting an end to their day's running.




"Its clear that this is going to be a very competitive year" said Hart, "the level of work required is of a magnitude far above that what is required at club level. The level of support that we have been receiving even before the opening round has also been incredible and we're very appreciative of that!".

The team were however able to test at Rockingham the next day as planned and without incident putting in some comparative lap times to last years GT4 winners.