2005 Profile
Oliver Bryant
At the age of 19, teenage sensation Oliver Bryant was the youngest and most successful driver in the British GT Championship in 2005. Finishing 4th in the Morgan Aero 8 GT alongside the car’s owner was a momentous achievement for a car with relatively little development compared to its Porsche and Ferrari rivals. Oliver ended up 1 point behind 3rd and 3 points behind second at the end of a highly challenging competitive season with 2 wins and 2 second places. As well as the modern GT racing, Oliver has been continuing with his very successful career in historic GT cars. At the end of 2004, he was nominated as Historic Motor Racing’s driver of the year. These include an original 1964 AC Cobra, a Ferrari Daytona Competition Car, a Lotus XV, a Morgan +8, a 1965 Ford Mustang, an Aston Martin DB5 and the occasional run in his FIA MGB Roadster that he started racing at the age of 16. Racing the Cobra in the Gentlemen Drivers GT series, he has had 6 wins and 6 fastest laps from 6 races. Oliver also raced the Competition Daytona for the first time at Snetterton in the Ferrari Formula Classic series.
Oliver was awarded Driver of the Meeting at Croft in his second ever GT race, driving alone, where he led the race for 50 minutes in treacherous conditions.
He set pole position, won the race and set fastest lap and smashed the previous lap record. Oliver competed in the BRDC 50’s Sports Car Championship in selected races and spent much of the season developing the very fragile Lotus XV. This work paid off with a great 3rd place on the Brands Hatch GP circuit. In the Morgan +8, Oliver made a one off visit to the Morgan Motor Company Challenge and won the race with fastest lap and pole position against the championship’s regular winners in much more developed machinery. He also raced the +8 in the televised Heritage Grand Touring Challenge supporting the British Touring cars at Snetterton. Against stiff competition from a group of rapid Mustangs, Morgans, Astons and Corvettes, Oliver claimed an awesome double header with 2 poles, 2 wins and 2 fastest laps.
