British GT: RAM Racing’s De Haan And Cottingham To Contest Opening Round

RAM Racing has announced that Sam De Haan and James Cottingham will contest the opening round of the 2021 Intelligent Money British GT Championship in the team’s second Mercedes-AMG GT3.

For historics racer Cottingham, Brands Hatch will be 37-year-old pilot’s first outing in the premier domestic GT championship.

“I’ve been thinking about getting involved with British GT for a while, but the right opportunity never really came along because I’d been so busy with historic racing,” he said. “But I was talking with Sam recently and he suggested I come and have a go in the RAM Mercedes as he thought we might make a solid driver pairing, and I loved the car from the first moment I drove it.

“I’ll be straight into it at Brands Hatch as there’s not time for another test beforehand, so it will be a weekend of learning and working with Sam and the team at RAM to see how close I can get to the pace during what will be a very limited time-frame before the race. But I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a bit of a toe-in-the water for both myself and Sam, so we’ll see how we go at Brands, and then have another conversation after the weekend.”

For Sam De Haan, 2021 will be the fourth year that the 27-year-old driver has competed in the British GT Championship. De Haan has finished runner-up in the overall GT3 drivers standings in both 2019 and 2020. Two years ago De Haan was partnered by Jonny Cocker in the #89 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 before switching to RAM Racing for the 2020 season. Together with Patrick Kujala, the duo finished the season less than 20 points behind champions Rob Collard and Sandy Mitchell.

“In truth, British GT wasn’t part of my original plan for this year, but I’ll never turn down the chance for an extra race outing!” admitted De Haan. “Plus, British GT is a great championship to be a part of.”

“I’ve known James for a while now, and I know how good he is in historic cars, so I think he will adapt well to a modern GT3. Judging by his first run at Silverstone, he won’t take too long to get up to speed with the Mercedes. The British GT field looks very competitive this season, but we know we have a great car and a great team behind us. Brands Hatch will be a bit of fun for us, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be pushing for a strong result.”

The opening round of the 2021 Intelligent Money British Championship is at Brands Hatch on May 22 – 23.