John Seale and The Grand Tour’s Abbie Eaton are teaming up with Fox Motorsport for their first Intelligent Money British GT Championship appearance together at Donington Park on October 21-22.
Fox were race winners with Nick Halstead, Jamie Stanley and McLaren at Spa last season but have switched to the new-for-2023 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 for their first British GT outing of the year.
Both of its drivers have contested the championship separately before but know each other well from racing together elsewhere.
Seale was a GT Cup class champion in 2019 and ‘20 – incidentally also the season of his last British GT3 outing in the previous generation Huracan.
“Donington’s going to be good fun. I’ve had a couple of days in the Evo 2 Lamborghini and I’m still dialling myself in, but it’s a beautiful car to drive and I’m looking forward to getting as much practice as possible before we race it,” he said.
“Fox Motorsport are a race-winning team and Jamie Stanley, who has been racing with me for years, is heavily involved here so that makes it an ideal fit. Jamie’s not available for the weekend, so I’m very happy to have Abbie standing in. We’ve done very well as a partnership before so she’s absolutely the person I’d like alongside me.”
Eaton is known to millions as The Grand Tour’s test driver and occasional co-host, but she also possesses an extensive racing CV that includes a full British GT4 campaign with Ebor’s Maserati back in 2016. She then became a regular W Series points-scorer and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe class winner, and has spent 2023 racing a version of the Huracan in Super Trofeo Europe.
“I’m looking forward to racing in British GT for the first time in a long while,” she said. “I haven’t done an awful lot of GT3 racing, but I’ve spent the year in the Super Trofeo car, which has different characteristics, so hopefully it won’t take long to adjust to the Evo 2.
“I’ve stood in for Jamie as John’s co-driver quite a few times and we’ve had a good number of wins in Britcar and the GT Cup together, and although I’ve never raced for Fox Motorsport, I know the team well. I’d like to thank Jamie and John for the opportunity and see where it might lead in the future.”
Eaton’s entry brings together two of TV’s best known ‘tame racing drivers’ at the Donington Decider where Top Gear’s former Stig, Ben Collins, is also competing, albeit in the GT4 class with Raceway.
Images: Jakob Ebrey Photography