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It took all of winter’s racing downtime before our Harry Barton decided on his 2026 campaign trail. It was for sure, going to be GT3, but rushing headlong into what by most, is judged to be the most fiercely competitive category of motorsport, without doing all the homework is not in his style. Thus, the lay-off saw Harry out and about, testing different cars with different teams, at different tracks around Europe. Result? Entry into the full seven round, Benelux based, Supercar Challenge, driving a BMW M6 GT3, prepared and run by Koopman Racing. First Round: Zandvoort 17-19 April. Each weekend consists of either two sprint races and a single one-hour endurance, or in the case of Spa, for instance, two times sixty minutes. At Zandvoort, starting the way he meant to go on, Harry posted fastest time in qualifying and followed this up with a well-judged third place in Race 1, against facing some pretty aggressive opposition in the latter stages. Better be safe than sorry. Race 2 saw him moving up the pecking order, taking second place overall, and first GT3 across the line. Maximum points. That just left the one-hour outing on Sunday afternoon. Sadly, things didn’t work out as the BMW refused to start, and despite the best efforts from all involved a disappointed Harry could only watch his main rival, Marlon Birdsall win and even up the score, from the sidelines. All things considered though, this was a great start for Barton Racing. However, Spa, next on the agenda, is a very different circuit, longer and faster, and a place where the weather always plays its part, so for sure, with a pair of one-hour races to look forward to, things are going to get very exciting. |
