+ GT Cup graduate Dawson joins 2017 GT3 title winner
Former champion Seb Morris makes his British GT comeback this year with Team Parker Racing and Charles Dawson.
GT3’s 2017 title winner joins the GT4 ranks with the same Mercedes-AMG he and Dawson campaigned in GT Cup last season. The 28-year-old could therefore become just the second driver to win both overall class crowns – a feat so far only achieved by Rick Parfitt Jnr who incidentally clinched his GT3 title with Morris and TPR.
Morris was subsequently promoted to Bentley’s factory roster but had few opportunities to impress before the programme was shuttered in 2020 – the same year as his final British GT appearance. He then raced various GT cars sporadically before teaming up with Dawson in 2023.
“I'm looking forward to doing a full championship, and my first since 2020 when I was with Bentley, so it'll be nice to get the season underway with a very quick Am in Charles. I think we'll hit the ground running as Charles is doing a winter series to prepare and get some seat time, as well as to help him continue to progress with his race craft.
“The first person to win both GT3 and GT4 was my former team-mate, so it would be funny to do it the other way around. However, to be honest, GT4 is just as hard, if not harder, than GT3 to win a race in. It's so incredibly competitive and we're going to be up against a lot of quick Silvers and some very good, established Pro-Am pairings.
“The good thing is I've won the championship overall with Team Parker and it's going to basically be the same team around us, which was important in my decision to take Charles there. The building blocks are there, I know how good the team will be, I know how good the car will be, and I know how good we'll be. If we get everything right, learn throughout the season, and have no big mistakes, there's no reason why we can't do it all over again.”
Dawson, meanwhile, returned to motorsport in 2022 following a long sabbatical. He made a handful of GT4 European Series appearances last year before injury prevented him from completing the campaign, but returned to action in GT Cup alongside Morris with whom he shared several podiums and a victory at Silverstone.
“Moving to the British GT Championship is a really important step in a long-term career,” he said. “Last year my preparation was a bit curtailed as I fractured my back at Monza in April, but still, I think it was important to maximise what we did on the weekends I had with Seb in GT Cup, and we did that, but there's still a lot of work to do.
“I'm very lucky to be able to do what I'm doing, and I can't help but dream of competing in some of the bigger races like the Daytona and Spa 24 Hours, and moving into GT3, but I'm not in a rush. I've only been doing this for two years so there's plenty of time to make that next step.”
Team Parker has enjoyed a close association with Porsche in recent years but previously enjoyed success with Mercedes-AMG when it ran Nick Jones and Scott Malvern to 2018’s GT4 Pro-Am title.
British GT’s full-season entry list will be revealed during media day on March 12 before the campaign begins in earnest at Oulton Park on Easter Bank Holiday Weekend (March 30 + April 1).
