Paddock Motorsport have confirmed today that they will return to the GT3 class of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship for 2024. The team have announced an unchanged driver line up including American racer Mark Smith and Martin Plowman, the team owner. The pair will again share a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo in the Pro/Am category of the championship.
The team claimed the Team of the Weekend award twice last year in a season which was a well-deserved reward after a trying year. The Donington Decider saw the team performing a chassis swap after an accident in qualifying tubbed the car which had seen them through their first full season together.
“This season is going to be a big one, not just for myself and Mark, but for Paddock Motorsport as a whole as the team continues to grow and evolve,” said Plowman. “A huge amount of work has gone in over the winter to ensure we start 2024 in the best possible position. There’s no doubt that Mark and I are planning to hit the ground running this year and attack from the very start.
“Mark’s driving has developed incredibly well across the last year, to the point where he was among the fastest amateur drivers on the grid. If it wasn’t for more than a few doses of bad luck, we’d have been fighting for the big scores for at least the last half of 2023. This year he comes back with experience of all the circuits, whereas he was having to learn many on the fly last year without testing, and that knowledge will only make him faster.
“As a team we were also having to learn and adapt to the new 720S GT3 Evo, with the upgraded car arriving during the season. We now have a great understanding of the Evo upgrades, and I have every confidence that the technical team we have onboard will continue to unlock the car’s secrets across the year. It’s also special to run the carbon-pink livery, which harks back to an incredible time in my career when I achieved world championship success. Hopefully it can be a good omen in British GT too. Combined, we have a really strong package for this season, and I’m excited about what 2024 can bring.”
An expanded Paddock Motorsport has more announcements to make with a GT4 programme to be confirmed before the media day test at Donington Park on 12th March.
