British racing gearing up for August restart

National motor sport looks set to get the green light to resume from August after both of Britain’s leading series unveiled reworked calendars planning a summer start.

Both the British Touring Car Championship and the British GT Championship have produced reworked schedules, which should allow both series to complete 90 per cent of their planned seasons, with the campaigns running from August 1 until late into November.

The coronavirus pandemic had led Motorsport UK to suspend all organising permits until at least June 30. However the governing body has stated that it is keen to get the sport back underway as soon as is safely possible. However, both revised calendars remain provisional pending government measures, and it is still unknown if attendance at the events will be either allowed or limited.

As the top-flight domestic series, the BTCC has used its first-pick privileges when rescheduling to secure enough events to form a 27-race season, while British GT has retained nine of its usual 10 races, with the annual European round at Spa being cancelled.

British GT will also adopt a new format in an effort to recoup any lost hours of racing. A second three-hour race will be held, and its second round – at Donington Park – will host both a single one-hour race and a two-hour second outing. Both the BTCC and British GT calendars are published in full on each series’ respective website. The British Superbike Championship is expected to publish its revised schedule in June.