Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team Driver Ambassador Jessica Hawkins will make her British GT Championship debut alongside Andrew Howard at Beechdean AMR this year.

The manufacturer’s Head of Racing for F1 Academy became the first woman since 2018 to test a contemporary grand prix car when she drove for Aston Martin at the Hungaroring earlier this year. Now she’s swapping single-seaters for Aston’s new Vantage GT3, which also makes its competitive British GT bow at Oulton Park over Easter Bank Holiday Weekend.

After becoming British Open Champion in go-karting, Hawkins stepped up to car racing and impressively finished second in her debut race. A stunt driver in the James Bond movie ‘No Time to Die’ and in ‘Fast and Furious Live’, she more recently became the first female race winner in TCR UK and was also a podium finisher in the W Series at the FIA Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

Hawkins said: “I’m so excited to have the opportunity to race in British GT this year with Beechdean AMR and Aston Martin. British GT is a series I’ve seen close-up while racing in other series in this paddock and it’s made me want to get involved with GT racing on a regular basis. To be able to do it with a championship-winning team like Beechdean AMR and to be able to combine it with my Aston Martin F1 role means it’s going to be a very busy season.”

Alongside her is one of the championship’s most experienced drivers as well as the only amateur to have won the GT3 title on multiple occasions. However, Howard is yet to mount a full-season assault outside of GT3’s Pro-Am class. And that’s an opportunity Beechdean AMR’s team principal is relishing when he links up with Hawkins.

Howard said: “The 2024 British GT Championship looks like it’s going to be on another level even compared to last year, with both Pro-Am and Silver-Am looking ultra-competitive. We enjoyed our comeback season in 2023 so much that it reinforced my opinion that this is the best national series in the world for an Am driver like me.”

Providing the platform for the season will be the new-for-2024 Aston Martin Vantage GT3, which will feature in high-level competition across the globe including in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS.

British GT kicks off at Oulton Park on Easter Weekend (30 March and 1 April) with events scheduled at Donington Park and Snetterton ahead of a finale at Brands Hatch in September. Tickets are on sale at discounted advance prices now – click here to book yours.