Team Parker Racing is delighted to announce that Ryan Ratcliffe and Glynn Geddie will be teaming up for the British GT Championship in the stunning new second-generation Bentley Continental GT3.
Ryan, celebrating his tenth season in motorsport in 2019, drove for the team last season alongside reigning champion Rick Parfitt Jnr in a first-generation Continental. The duo suffered bad luck during a year in which they demonstrated pace to run at the front of the field, with a second place at Spa-Francorchamps proving their speed.
“As soon as I started driving with the team last year, I knew I wanted to continue with them and going elsewhere wasn’t an option,” said Ryan Ratcliffe. “I spoke with Stuart at the end of last year and there was an option to do Blancpain, but I love doing British GT and when the deal came up to do it with Glynn, I bit Stuart’s hand off. The UK circuits are so challenging, and the cars are so big and fast, there is just something about driving the Bentley that gives me a thrill. I like the championship and the way it’s run and there are good quality entries.
“Glynn has proven in the past that he is quick. I’m looking forward to the new car; I drove it in August last year and it is awesome. It’s got something about it, and it’s definitely one of the most aggressive looking cars out there. Towards the tail end of last season, everything clicked, and I was enjoying driving the first-generation Bentley but I’m looking forward to getting out in the new Continental GT3.”
Glynn makes his return some nine years after he competed in Porsche Carrera Cup GB with Team Parker Racing. He was crowned Pro-Am 2 Champion in 2008, Pro-Am 1 Champion a year later, and finished fourth overall in 2010. Since then he has raced to success with championship titles in British GT and Supercar Challenge and also spent time in the British Touring Car Championship.
“It’s good to be back with Team Parker Racing as it’s where we started together in the Carrera Cup,” said Glyn Geddie. “I’ve not raced a GT3 car fulltime since 2012 so to come back with Stuart is good because I know the team well and it will help me re-acclimatise. The Bentley has been good car over the past few years and hopefully the new car will deliver for us.
“It’s a bit of a risk coming back after so long out but I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’ll be testing the new Continental GT3 for the first time on the Media Day. It is not ideal but we’ve got a number of test days lined up before the start of the season so we should be in good shape by the time we get to Oulton Park.”
“We’re very happy to welcome Ryan and Glynn back to the Team Parker Racing family,” said Team Manager Stuart Parker. “Ryan had a tough time last year with some unlucky moments, but he was great to have around, and we know there is more to come from him.
“It is really nice to have Glynn back onboard as well. It has been a while since we worked together but he showed his speed in Carrera Cup with the team and went on to great things in sportscars, so he’s going to be a big part of the team moving forward with the new car.”
The new Bentley Continental GT3 race car was developed in tandem with the recently launched road car and utilises the mostly aluminium structure to deliver an ideal racing weight. The engine is a new development of the race-proven 4.0-litre Bentley twin-turbo V8 and, despite reduced exhaust noise, the sound is still unmistakably Bentley.
