The British GT Championship is set for a thrilling showdown as reigning champion Darren Leung returns for a one-off round at the Silverstone 500. Adding to the excitement, Leung will now be joined by BMW factory driver Dries Vanthoor.
Leung and Dan Harper took home the crown in last year’s championship showpiece, which set them on the course to becoming the series champions. Neither had planned on defending the title this year due to their other commitments in WEC and Europe, but a one off Silverstone entry together was planned until Harper’s last minute full time British GT call up.
Vanthoor is a dominant force in GT racing and arguably one of the world’s top GT drivers. He joined BMW as a factory driver at the start of 2023, after many years with the Audi GT3 factory programme. The Belgian is also a multiple Fanatic GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS champion, as well as winning several endurance races such as Nurburgring 24 Hours, Bathurst 12 Hour and Suzuka 10 Hours.
“I’m very much looking forward to the race weekend at Silverstone,” he said. “It will be my first race in British GT, so it will be special and I am looking forward to race in the UK. Looking at last year’s performance from Darren and Dan, there’s not much we can do to do better than that, so for sure we will try and do the same! Hopefully we can have some good fun and a successful weekend together.”
Leung added: “It’s a real shame me and Dan can’t make it back to defend one of our wins together, but it’s fantastic he has the chance to defend his title, something I would have loved to do if I didn’t have my WEC clash. We’ll still have a bit of time at Silverstone to remember our win together which will be nice.
Dan helped me immeasurably last year and I’m sure he’ll do the same with Michael, so they’ll have a strong chance. Apart from Silverstone of course!
I’m drafting in Dries Vanthoor, a really fierce and experienced racer who will come in all guns blazing. We’re not coming for the appearance, we’re coming to get our names on the RAC trophy, and that’s the mentality we’ll have all weekend.”
Team Principal Nathan Freke: “To have Darren coming back to British GT wearing the #1 will is a very special moment for us all at Century. It’s a shame that the partnership is not with Dan, but Dries is a superb replacement and I’m sure they will be a force to be reckoned with.
Darren is on top of his game right now and racing at the highest level. I know he is looking to do the #1 justice and I’m really looking forward to see what unfolds on race day!”
The addition of Leung and Vanthoor’s GT3 entry, now means five BMW’s in the Century Motorsport garage; three GT3’s and a pair of M4’s contesting the GT4 class. The Silverstone 500 takes place on the weekend of April 27th-28th.