Photographing the GT Cup Championship

GT Cup Championship

Looking back over my records, I haven’t been to many GT Cup Championship race meetings. I mainly, if you will excuse the pun, focus on the GT Championship. I’m not sure why I’ve not been to many GT Cup events. Both the GT Cup and GT Championship have great cars and healthy, interesting race programmes. So when the opportunity arose to attend and photograph a GT Cup race, I took it, going to last weekend’s meeting at Donington Park.

For those who haven’t been to a Grand Turismo race car event, here is a very general overview of the sport. GT cars in the U.K. race series are standard production road-based supercars that you could walk into a showroom and buy. They have then been modified to meet various race regulations to compete in endurance racing. There are two main classes: GT3, GT4, and a newer GT2 class. GT3 cars are more powerful and technologically advanced. GT4 cars are more affordable to race, being closer to their road-going counterparts, therefore requiring less modifications. GT2s have more power than GT3 cars but with less downforce, making them easier to drive but generally slower than GT3s. 

So what is the difference between the GT Cup Championship and the GT Championship race series? In a nutshell, the GT Championship runs two classes, GT3 and GT4, with professional and amateur drivers. The GT Cup runs six classes, mainly for amateur drivers to compete and improve their skills in GT racing. It is recognised as a gateway to the British GT, GT World Challenge, and the World Endurance Championship. 

GT Cup Championship Support Racing Classes

The GT Cup and GT Championship have standard practice and qualifying sessions. The GT Cup will have a sprint and short endurance race, whereas the GT Championship will have longer endurance races. The endurance race requires each car to pit and change drivers. The support races in the two championships are different as well. The GT Championship has single-seat GB3 and 4 with Ginetta GT, Junior, and Academy classes.

At the GT Cup two-day weekend meeting at Donington Park, the support races were different on the two days. Saturday had various Porsche races and the “arrive and drive” Ford Focus Cup. They were absent on the Sunday when I attended, replaced by a very different set of vehicles. The British Superkart Racing Club, Sports 2000 Racing Car Club, and Radical Cup UK Championship were all racing.

The Sports 2000 Racing Car Club (SRCC) is for single seat Sports Car Prototypes like the MCR S2, Lola T88/90 and Van Diemens. These were the highlight of the support races for me.

There are a few classes in the SRCC, basically there are more modern Duratec engined cars like the MCRs. Then there are the Historic Ford Pinto engined cars. The Duratec engined cars will start ahead of the slower historic sports cars to stop any first corner shenanigans. 

In a slightly more modern take on the single seat sports car, the Radical Cup UK Championship were also competing. The last time I watched Radicals racing it wasn’t a pleasant experience. It was at a cold and damp Snetterton and there were only a few cars on track for an extended race.

This resulted in big gaps between the cars and not a lot of race action. I’m happy to report there was none of that at Donington. Close racing, great liveries with lots of noise from the Suzuki motorcycle engines fitted to these agile cars made for a good spectator experience. 

GT Cup Championship Racing

With a practice and two 15 minute qualifying sessions on Sunday I had plenty of time to check out the GT Cup cars before the main races of the day. With blue sky’s and a mostly dry but cold track I headed to McLeans to watch the Radicals before the GT Cars came out. Using my time productively, from a photographic view point, I started with some slow speed panning. I find it helpful to “warm up” my photography skills before the main event. 

Happy ish with my test shots of the Radicals I waited for the GT Cars. There were a few Radicals who had taken to the grass to be recovered which delayed the action. The cold tarmac had caught a few out. The GT practice qualifying sessions flew by, however, I managed to move up to Coppice during a red flag. Unfortunately the low September light was reflecting off the fences so the images were not as good as I would have hoped for. 

If your chosen photographic shooting spot isn’t working move to somewhere it will. Taking my own advice I headed for Redgate and the Melbourne loop for the racing. There are no fences on the inside of Redgate so I knew I could capture some good if not very interesting panning pictures. Endurance racing allows you to move locations as you have plenty of time on your hands. Also Donington has a lot of real estate and with a relatively small crowd getting a good spot to see the cars wasn’t a problem.  

All too soon the racing was over and I headed for the exit. Overall I was happy with my day at Donington. A combination of good weather, good racing and some nice motorsport images captured made me happy. If you would like to see the GT Cup in action you have one last opportunity this year. The final round of the 2025 GT Cup Championship will be at Snetterton 11-12 October 2025.

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