TF Sport is prepared for a full-time assault on the GT Cup at the historic Donington Park circuit on the Derbyshire/Leicestershire border this weekend (25-26 April), where it will field two Aston Martins and a Ferrari 458 Challenge for its five drivers.
Donington Park, which boasts a plethora of undulations and fast-sweeping bends, is one of Britain’s most beloved racing circuits and will play host to the season-opening round of the GT Cup, which has attracted a bumper grid of state-of-the-art GT machines in 2015.
Piloting the same Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 in which they recorded two top ten finishes in the 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship, Paul Bailey and Andy Schulz will spearhead TF Sport’s GT Cup campaign.
Bailey and Schulz, who took top honours in the GTC division of the 2013 British GT Championship, are excited about returning to the series, having carefully considered their options while trying and testing many of Europe’s highest profile sportscar championships in recent seasons.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience of the GT Cup at Brands Hatch last year, as the organisers made me feel very welcome and valued,” said Bailey. “It made my choice to return to the series very easy. With 24 races over the course of eight weekends and high levels of enjoyment, the GT Cup represents fantastic value for money and is as competitive as I need it to be.
“Whenever I put my racing helmet on, I want to win the championship, but, at a personal level, I want to have some fun and really enjoy myself. We have a strong chance of winning some races and I’m very excited for the 2015 season.”
Looking to further cement its status as a frontrunner in sportscar racing, the Redhill, Surrey-based TF Sport outfit will field 2009 Renault UK Clio Cup Champion Phil Glew in the team’s Ferrari 458 Challenge alongside his long-term pupil, gentleman racer Andy Houghton.
After laying foundations in single-seaters, Bedfordshire’s Glew eventually switched to ‘tin-tops’, achieving a race win during his maiden British GT campaign in 2006 and sealing the Renault UK Clio Cup title in 2009 with 18 podium finishes – including 11 race victories – and 11 pole positions.
Houghton has received coaching under Glew’s Edge Sporting Management banner for a number of years and his mentor feels he has the necessary skills and experience to compete in one of Britain’s premier GT championships.
Laying the floor for its third entry, TF Sport will field AllFloors Express Managing Director, Martin Johnston, in the team’s sole Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 that Andrew Jarman and Devon Modell took to the runner-up spot in the British GT Championship’s GT4 division last season.
Johnston made his GT Cup bow in 2014 behind the wheel of a 330bhp Dutch-built Aquila prototype after a four-year hiatus, but a run of poor reliability saw the 47-year old finish just three out of a possible 24 races.
TF Sport Team Director, Tom Ferrier, said: “It’s great to be back in the GT Cup having enjoyed the race meeting with them last year at Brands Hatch. We are obviously going there to be as competitive as possible in all three classes that we are racing in and it would be lovely to come away with some trophies, but we are under no illusion that it will be hard work up against the stiff competition out there.”
GT Cup qualifying is scheduled for 12.10 on Saturday (25 April) and will be followed by the first of the weekend’s three races at 17.00 later that same day, before the remaining two races at 12.40 and 17.00 on Sunday (26 April).
For more information on TF Sport and its racing activities, visit the officialwww.tfsport.co.uk website, ‘like’ the team’s Facebook page of follow@OfficialTFSport on Twitter.