Jaguar Goes Back To GT Racing

The British automaker Jaguar is developing a new F-Type GT race car to compete in racing’s GT4 European Series. It will be the first GT race car developed in-house since the E-type from the early 1960s.

According to The Drive, the project is reportedly handled by Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations division, the same team behind the special vehicles such as the F-Type Project 7 and the Range Rover SVAutobiography. SVO’s technical center is a £20 million facility in Warwickshire, England.

The special manufacturing facility is Jaguar Land Rover’s Center of excellence and home to a team of 200 automotive specialists. They offer halo models, limited run collectors’ editions, and high specification vehicles. Jaguar has reportedly hired Graham Humphrys as the leader of the GT4 project. He designed the BMW V12 LMR, Bimmer’s victorious 1999 Le Mans prototype, and most recently he worked on Aston Martin’s mid-engine Valkyrie hypercar.

As reported by Auto Guide, the project appears to be financed by an external client, not from within the carmaker’s own budget. Funding for the F-Type GT4 race car is believed to come from James Holder. He is the co-founder of the Superdry clothing brand. Holder started racing last year in the British GT4 Championship and the GT4 European Series using an Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Apparently, Holder has acquired three cars from Jaguar and they should make their race debut in the later rounds of the GT4 European Series.

Jaguar has neither officially confirmed nor denied the rumors. Jaguar made its Formula E debut ahead of the 2016-2017 Formula E season. In 2016 they brought A1 GP champion Adam Carroll, Le Mans champion Harry Tincknell, and 2012 and 2014 GP3 champions Mitch Evans and Alex Lynn to the pre-season test at Donington Park. Caroll and Evans were subsequently signed to the team and Panasonic became the team’s main sponsor. Previously, Jaguar was a Formula One constructor and competed in the FIA Formula One World Championship from 2000 to 2004.