Bentley Breaks Status Quo

Parfitt and Morris rocked all over the world. Well, the UK anyway.

- Rob Ladbrook

Considering it’s been around since 2013, Bentley’s Continental GT3 took a fair chunk of time to finally hit the top on home turf to join a long list of home- grown manufacturers to celebrate a British GT Championship title.A development year for the M-Sport-developed car in 2013 was troubled; 2014 was just a bit-part campaign, and then the focus shifted to Europe. Bentley was strong everywhere aside from its own back yard, until the trio of Seb Morris, Rick Parfitt Jr and Stuart Parker came along.

They returned the Crewe brand to British GT for 2016 and showed glimpses of Bentley’s potential in year one. Parker is more versed in running championship-winning Porsches, while Morris had just joined from GP3, and Parfitt from Ginetta. All three factors needed to learn and gel, and this year they solidified into something special.

“I think the biggest difference this year was just familiarity,” says Parker. “The first year we were learning everything: new car, new data, new drivers and engineers. This year it all felt like progression, instead of starting again. We knew base set-ups for the car for each track, and that meant we had a good platform everywhere we went and could improve the areas we needed to.”

The Continental still required some work to become a consistent winner, but the biggest improvement came from its drivers. Morris eliminated the mistakes that afflicted his campaign in 2016 and now looks like a well-rounded GT driver, showing pace, consistency and an enhanced team spirit. He played a key role in bringing on Parfitt’s performance, which ultimately proved the differentiator this year.

“I felt like I drove better this year than I ever have, I’ve had the season of my life,” said Parfitt. “Seb worked with me a lot, and I learned a load from him. But this year was still a real battle.”