Century Motorsport are set to embark on their biggest season to date running two cars in the British GT4 Championship with an all new line-up. Returning to Oulton Park for the opening two rounds of the 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship where the team started their 2013 season winning their class in both races, they are aiming for a repeat performance this year.
Current British GT4 Champion Rick Parfitt Jnr joins the team after a fantastic British GT debut in 2013. Making the move to Century Motorsport to defend his crown, he is joined by single-seater convert Tom Oliphant as his co-driver for 2014. “Media day went really well, the car felt great and both Tom and I showed good pace and it was fun seeing all the cars together for the first time. I think this will be a great season”, added a confident Parfitt Jnr who has his sights firmly set on retaining his crown. British GT newcomer Tom Oliphant also highlighted a successful Media day leaving him confident going into the season opener: “The Media day went very well, we ended up second quickest, only a fraction slower than the Porsche. It doesn’t really matter, as again the car will change with the balance of performance adjustment. The big positive is that both myself and Rick were competitive and confident going into the first round.”
Joining Parfitt Jnr and Oliphant at Century Motorsport will be current Swedish Ginetta GT5 Champion Morten Dons from Denmark racing with Norway’s Aleksander Schjerpen who graduates from the Swedish GT Championship where he raced a Ginetta G50. Aleksander commented on a strong pre-season testing programme allowing them to get up to speed quite quickly: “We have learned a lot during pre-season testing and I think we are getting up to speed pretty quick. We had a good day at Donington for the Media day, we got some more laps under our belt and adjusted the car a little to get a better feeling. I hope we can be strong at Oulton Park and fight amongst the top of the field.” Echoing Aleksander’s comments was an equally confident Morten as he too has his sights firmly set on a strong 2014 campaign: “The pre-season testing has gone well. There are a lot of new things to learn on the car but also the tracks, which are all new to me. We had a small issue with the car at Media day but the team did a great job to fix it and make sure we got as much track time as possible. I’m very impressed with British GT so far. Its very professional with lots of good drivers so I’m really looking forward to doing my very best amongst this field.”
Team Principal Nathan Freke complimented his new quartet of drivers on their professionalism to date and is confident of another strong beginning to their season: “Last year we dominated GT4 in Oulton Park winning both one-hour races, and I see no reason why we can’t get off to the same start this year. Rick is a proven package as the current champion and Tom has certainly shown that his move to GT racing hasn’t been a step too far for him. Morten and Aleksander have been really strong throughout our pre-season testing and will be on the podium this year.”
The 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship begins with rounds one and two at Oulton Park on Saturday 19th April.
Race Weekend Information
Oulton Park International Circuit
2.69-mile, 17-turn race circuit
Little Budworth, Cheshire
April 19 – April 21, 2014
Timetable:
Saturday, April 19, 2014:
Free Practice 1: 9:35 am – 10:35 am
Free Practice 2: 12:05 pm – 1:05 pm
Qualifying 1: 4:20 pm – 4:35 pm
Qualifying 2: 4:40pm – 4:55pm
Monday, April 21, 2014:
Warm up: 9:00 am – 9:10 am
Round 1: 11:15 am – 12:15 pm – 60 minutes
Round 2: 3:45 pm – 4:45 pm – 60 minutes