CR Scuderia will take part in its first race meeting this weekend at Oulton Park as the 2008 Avon Tyres British GT Championship kicks off at the Cheshire venue.

The new team, fronted by former champions Chris Niarchos and Andrew Kirkaldy, will run three cars in the series this season alongside two cars in the FIA GT Championship, with the British season opener marking the first weekend of racing after an extensive testing programme in recent months.

The #14 Ferrari will be led by James Sutton and Michael Meadows, the latter taking a different direction with his career as he moves over from single-seaters. With the pair expected to be one of the front-runners, Sutton admitted he was excited by the season ahead, with the early focus being to get points on the board.

“Our number one priority at Oulton is to pick up points,” he said. “Even though it will be Michael's and my first time in a GT race, I feel that we should be competitive enough to finish in the top few positions.

“Michael showed very impressive pace at the media day, for a guy who hadn't driven the car before, so that really suggests we should be fighting at the front of the grid. In the Ferrari 430 I think we have the perfect tool for the job in the British GT Championship.”

Irish pairing Michael Cullen and Paddy Shovlin will share the #15 car while another single-seater convert Jeremy Metcalfe will share the #16 car with Luke Hines.

“We want to win at Oulton but we also know it's important to get some solid points in the bag at the first race,” the former series runner-up said. “I think Jeremy and I have showed we have the pace. Jeremy has no experience in GTs but from what I've seen he is very quick.

“We both need to crack on and work hard to get the results this year. Ferraris have always been dream cars to me since I was a kid so to be racing one is a dream come true. The competition is the strongest I have ever seen in British GT. The drivers are very strong and include some of my old touring car mates, and the likes of Allan Simonsen will be hard to beat. It's definitely one of the strongest series in Europe and I'm very excited to be part of it.”