Former single-seater ace Seb Morris will make his sportscar racing and British GT Championship debut in 2016 after joining Rick Parfitt Jnr aboard Team Parker Racing’s Bentley Continental GT3.
The 20-year-old Welshman, who competed in the GP3 Series last season, has tasted success in a variety of categories, including finishing second overall in the now British GT-supporting BRDC F4 Championship three years ago.
However, the ever escalating cost of a planned career path in single-seaters led MSA Team UK racer Morris and his management to pursue other options for 2016, and the chance to drive a Bentley proved too big an opportunity to dismiss.
“I really am so excited to be making the move into GT racing this year, it is an absolutely fantastic development for my career to be joining Team Parker Racing in the team’s first year working with Bentley,” said the two-time McLaren Autosport BRDC Award finalist. “Hopefully this will prove to be the start of a very fruitful GT career; I’m elated to be associated with the famous ‘Bentley Boys’.
“Whatever we did this year, I wanted to be in the best possible car to get back to winning ways and I’ll definitely have that in British GT. Bentley obviously want to win, Parker want to win and I really want to win again – this is the perfect deal. Everyone is really energised and excited by this and I have a very good feeling about the partnership going forward.
“Joining Team Parker and Bentley wasn’t a hard decision to make at all. Stuart’s [Parker] team has won in everything they’ve done and I’m immensely excited and proud to be associated with a manufacturer like Bentley. There is so much heritage there – it’s going to be a great year.”
Team boss Stuart Parker added: “We’ve watched Seb all the way from winning his first championships in Ginetta Junior through to GP3 last year and he’s exactly the kind of driver we want in our British GT team. He’s young, fast and wants to make a career in GT Racing.
“The reality is, the way I always say it is, on GT grids you’ve got 13 manufacturers out there and if most run a couple of cars you’ve obviously got a much better chance of establishing a career as a paid, professional driver than you have in single-seaters. It’s great to be working with Seb and a real honour for all of us to be representing Bentley and showcasing the best of British.”
This year’s British GT Championship gets underway at Brands Hatch on April 16/17.