Team Modena have been joined for the remainder of the 2008 Avon Tyres British GT Championship season by front-running drivers Ben de Zille Butler and Guy Harrington. The rapid pairing have British GT experience and will see the team expand to a two-car operation running a pair of GT3-specification Lamborghini Gallardos in the competitive series. The duo will make their race debut at next weekend's Knockhill, Scotland, rounds of the series.
"It's great to have such a strong driver line-up joining us," said Team Principal Graham Schultz. "We are hiring a car from Reiter Engineering in Germany for the Knockhill races for Ben and Guy, and put down a deposit yesterday with them on a new which should be here in four weeks, in time for the Rockingham rounds for the series. Our original car is still under repair from the incident at Oulton Park, but we will in future be running a two-car team. We now fully expect Team Modena to be up there fighting for the championship."
"I'm really pleased to be with Team Modena," said 31-year-old de Zille Butler. "We met Graham Schultz, Rik Bryan and Hans Muehlbauer this week and have been able to do a deal. We tested the Lamborghini last year and now can't wait to race it. Knockhill will be a big weekend for us, it is a tight and twisty circuit for these big expensive GT cars, but I think it will suit the Gallardo and we are looking forward to going there."
"I thought the Lamborghini was a fantastic car when we first drove it," said 21-year-old Harrington, "well balanced and it felt like a real race car. We met up with the team and we seem to have common goals, there may even be some synergy for moving forward together in the future. We are looking forward to working with Team Modena, there is a lot we need to do, but we are going to give it our best shot and we are here to win. Ben and I hate settling for second."
The team's original Gallardo was damaged in an incident in the opening race of the British GT season and will not be repaired in time for Knockhill, but the team should be up to full strength with two cars from May's Rockingham meeting onwards, both run from Team Modena's High Wycombe facility.
Next Avon Tyres British GT rounds: Knockhill, Scotland, April 12th / 13th 2008.