Brian Gush, Bentley’s director of motorsport, knows the Continental GT very well. He began working on the development of the car not long after VW Group acquired the storied British luxury brand in 1998. Over the years, he’s also served as Bentley’s powertrain and chassis development chief, and now the genial South African, who collects and races vintage motocross bikes, heads Bentley’s GT3 racing program.
The Bentley Continental GT3 race car was developed entirely in house at Bentley’s HQ in Crewe, England. Bentley had previously competed in the LMP1 prototype sports car category, the team run by Gush winning the fabled Le Mans 24 Hour race with the Speed 8 in 2003. The decision to focus on the production-car-based GT3 category instead came when fellow VW Group brand Porsche announced it would be competing at Le Mans in LMP1 alongside Audi in 2014. “Three brands in LMP1 was one too many,” says Gush.
