How to get the best out of amateur racers

By:

James Newbold

Apr 3, 2022, 1:00 PM

Pro-Am GT racing is booming. But how should drivers approach working with an amateur? Autosport sought out a panel of experts to explain the pitfalls amateur drivers should avoid and how professionals can help them to achieve their goals

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The Bathurst 12 Hour on 15 May will be a Pro-Am event, with each GT3 crew required to field a Bronze-graded amateur driver, due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will bring another dimension to the Australian enduro as company directors and entrepreneurs sharing with top professionals go for outright honours in the Intercontinental GT Challenge curtain-raiser.

Wealthy so-called ‘gentleman racers’ are the backbone of modern GT racing. Their support of the world’s biggest endurance races – 23 cars will contest the GTE Am class at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year – and the many championships run to the homogenised GT3 rules makes participation in sportscar racing viable for manufacturers and enriches the entire ecosystem by providing opportunities for teams and drivers alike to earn factory-aligned status.

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James Newbold Autosport Plus Editor

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James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.