The ADAC GT4 Germany championship is one of the most competitive GT4 championships in the world, with European TV coverage and live global online race coverage, and once again I was proud to be part of the Basis Technologies team, representing Basis as your driver both on and off the track. But there is far more to racing than just showing up and driving round a track, as I hope to illustrate; just to get to race day requires a huge amount of work and preparation by everyone at Team Doerr, the German team that runs our McLaren race car. 

The Team

The photo above shows most of the team assembled at a pre-season test at the Barcelona circuit in Spain. That's me on the far left, next to my teammate Phil Doerr, son of the team and Doerr Group (Europe's biggest McLaren dealer) owner. The other two drivers in the photo campaign the second Doerr car, another McLaren. Team personnel include the Team Manager, Chief Mechanic, four further Mechanics, Race Engineers, Data Analysts, car set-up specialists, truck driver, and personnel to organise and take care of race and test day team needs (meals and refreshments, team passes, accommodation etc). 

Getting everything and everyone to the circuit for testing and race weekends is in itself a logistical challenge. The race cars are stripped, rebuilt and race prepared prior to every test and race day, at the Doerr workshops in Frankfurt, and delivered to the circuit at least a day prior to testing or racing, where the McLaren support truck and McLaren engineers (below left), together with the Doerr truck and hospitality unit (below centre) will be waiting. There, the team assemble the awning 'workshop' to house the cars and engineering equipment, and also erect the essential team 'canteen' (below right).