> Spa makes way for popular Portuguese destination
The Intelligent Money British GT Championship makes its first-ever visit to Portugal next season when the Algarve International Circuit becomes the series’ sole round on foreign soil.
A new three-hour race at the same venue as SRO Motorsports Group previously staged FIA GT1 World Championship, FIA GT3 European Championship and British F3 events takes the slot held by Spa-Francorchamps since 2014. Zandvoort and the Nurburgring have also featured over the past decade.
The FIA Grade 1 circuit is located in Portugal’s south-western tip near the picturesque and historic port city of Portimao. It currently hosts the likes of DTM, European Le Mans Series, MotoGP and World Superbike Championship, while the Portuguese Grand Prix also took place there in 2020 and ’21.
The rest of British GT’s nine-race schedule remains broadly the same as 2022.
As usual, Oulton Park stages two one-hour races over Easter Bank Holiday Weekend before the three-hour Silverstone 500 takes place one month later. That’s followed by the first of Donington’s two rounds, which reverts from 180 to 120 minutes later in May, while Snetterton’s double sprint format precedes Portugal’s debut in mid-July – one week earlier than the slot Spa traditionally held. Two-hour races at Brands Hatch and Donington complete British GT’s 31st season after the August summer break, which has been deliberately avoided.
2023 CALENDAR
April 8 & 10 – Oulton Park (2x 1-hour)
May 6/7 – Silverstone 500 (1x 3-hour)
May 27/28 – Donington Park (1x 2-hour)
June 24/25 – Snetterton (2x 1-hour)
July 15/16 – Algarve (1x 3-hour)
September 9/10 – Brands Hatch (1x 2-hour)
October 14/15 – Donington Park (1x 2-hour)