GT4 Championships

More news from the Dutch GT4 Championship

The organisers of the Dutch GT4 Championship made several announcements regarding the 2009 season today. After the confirmation of Michelin as exclusive tyre supplier of the championship next year it was now time for more news on the calendar and teams to join.

First things first, the provisional calendar. The series will make its debut at the Paasraces at Zandvoort and will also join the Dutch Power Pack Festival at Assen and the Masters of Formula 3 at Zolder.

It was rumoured before that the Dutch GT4 Championship would join the Total 24 Hours of Spa. Unfortunately there is no room in the programme, but the series will be racing at Spa nevertheless at either the Le Mans Series weekend or the Racing Festival later in the year.

The (provisional) Dutch GT4 Championship calendar:

• April 13 – Zandvoort, Netherlands
• May 10 – Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (to be confirmed)
• June 1 – Zandvoort, Netherlands
• July 5 – Assen, Netherlands
• August 9 – Zolder, Belgium
• September 6 or 20 – Zandvoort, Netherlands
• October 4 – Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (to be confirmed)
• October 11 or 25 – Zandvoort, Netherlands

In early October we reported that Dutch GT4 would not be an official Dutch championship in an attempt to introduce a zero-tolerance policy. A zero-tolerance policy will be in force next year, although the regulations will be a bit different compared to what was said then. Teams will be able to appeal a decision made by the race director. As a result of this decision the organisers decided to run the championship under the KNAF (Dutch Automobile Federation) rules afterall and therefore making it a real national championship. Unfortunately this means plans for a German round have been cancelled.

There was also news regarding teams and drivers. Tachyon Motorsport has ordered a second Ford Mustang while Euro Magnum Racing ordered a second Corvette C6. Madeno Racing, already present at the test day with one of their two Aston Martin N24s, will get company of some extra Astons. Pure Racing, a new team, has also opted for the Aston Martin N24, while Rhesus Racing ordered two brand new Vantage GT4s.

With the development of extra GT4 cars, like the Maserati GranTurismo, a BMW M3 and even a Chevrolet Camara, teams thinking of joining the Dutch GT4 Championship will have a large range of cars to chose from. With almost five months to go before round one of the new championship there still a lot of news to come.