DE ZILLE BUTLER GETS LATE CALL UP

After deciding to take a year out of British GT in 2009 Ben de Zille Butler was yesterday called up to make a one-off appearance in the season opener at Oulton Park over the Easter weekend.

Driving a Beechdean-Barwell Aston Martin V8 Vantage Ben will partner multiple Le Mans entrant Richard Jones in the GT4 category of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship.

"David at Beechdean called me yesterday after the planned second drive pulled out and asked me if i'd be able to drive," said a pleased Ben. "Although I had decided not to do the full championship this year for several reasons I wa always hoping for one or two races to keep myself sharp for a return in 2010 but you never know if those chances will arise."

"I tested the car at Brands Hatch in February and although I only had a dozen laps feel confident enough to get to grips with it quite quickly. I won't have time for any testing so will need to be straight on it in warm up and qualifying."

Ben's first race will be at 16:05 on Saturday 11 April with the second round taking place on Easter Monday at 14:05. With the Aston Martin not having been competitive against the speedy Ginetta in 2008 it will be interesting to see what equalisation has occurred of the winter break.