The British GT Championship will use its blue riband Silverstone 500 event to pay tribute to the late Neil Cunningham this Sunday on what would have been his 54th birthday.
Cunningham, who finished third in 2005’s GT2 championship and was one of the series’ most popular figures, lost his brave battle against Motor Neurone Disease two weeks ago.
Neil spent his final years campaigning to raise awareness of the condition through his Racing4MND charity. British GT will do likewise this weekend by replacing its standard windscreen branding with a large Racing4MND version. The GT3 design features a white background while GT4’s will be black.
The prominent branding area will be especially visible this Sunday thanks to Motors TV’s live coverage of all three hours from Silverstone.
Drivers, team personnel and championship organisers will also gather at the front of the pre-race grid for a photo call with a Racing4MND banner. All are invited to wear team shirts, just as guests at Neil’s funeral this Thursday have been asked to.
Championship Manager Benjamin Franassovici believes it’s the least British GT could do for such a popular and brave former driver.
“We thought about doing something at Oulton Park but there wasn’t enough time to organise anything suitable that would have done Neil’s life justice,” he said. “In contrast Silverstone is our biggest race of the year, there’s live TV coverage and of course Sunday would have been Neil’s birthday, so it made much more sense to wait and do things properly.
“Racing4MND is Neil’s legacy so it's important that we give it as much coverage as possible. It doesn’t get any more high-profile than dedicated windscreen branding across our biggest grid of the year! I’m sure he’d be happy with that.”
British GT’s three-hour, 500-kilometre race gets underway at 12:30 BST this Sunday. Tickets are available to pre-order here until 17:00 on Friday, while those who can’t make it can watch the race live on Motors TV.
Equally, donations to Neil’s Racing4MND charity can be made at
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=Racing4MND&isTeam=true
