The 29-year-old tested Aston Martin’s AMR21 at the Hungaroring last year as she became the first female since 2018 to drive a modern F1 car.
Hawkins, who has been appointed Aston Martin’s head of racing for F1 Academy, previously took a podium in the now-disbanded W Series when the championship supported F1 at the Miami Grand Prix in 2022.
Prior to that, Hawkins had won a round of the TCR UK Championship at Oulton Park and also worked as a stunt driver on a number of James Bond films.
“I’m so excited to have the opportunity to race in British GT this year with Beechdean AMR and Aston Martin,” said Hawkins, who along with Howard will race the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
“British GT is a series I’ve seen close-up while racing in other series in this paddock and it’s made me want to get involved with GT racing on a regular basis.
“To be able to do it with a championship-winning team like Beechdean AMR and to be able to combine it with my Aston Martin F1 role means it’s going to be a very busy season.
“British GT has grown in stature over the past couple of years with increased visibility and so many factory drivers in GT3 so it’s very exciting to be a part of that and we’ll certainly be targeting good results from the get-go at Oulton Park.”
Hawkins will form a Silver-Am partnership with Howard, who with his Prodrive-supported Beechdean team won the GT3 title outright in 2013 and 2015, both at the wheel of the V12-spec Vantage.
Howard’s Beechdean team has been a stalwart of British GT over the past decade
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
The team also claimed the GT4 title in 2015, with future three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick and Ross Gunn.
Last year Howard returned to contest the full British GT championship after concentrating on racing in Europe in 2022, and alongside factory Aston Martin driver Gunn took two podiums to finish eighth in the standings.
“The 2024 British GT Championship looks like it’s going to be on another level even compared to last year, with both Pro-Am and Silver-Am looking ultra-competitive,” said Howard.
“We enjoyed our comeback season in 2023 so much that it reinforced my opinion that this is the best national series in the world for an Am driver like me.
“It’s great to bring Jessica – somebody that’s such an important part of the Aston Martin family – into the team this season.
“This is a programme that has the potential to grow and grow over the next couple of years as we aim first to help her learn GT racing – which she’s totally new to – and then challenge for bigger and bigger results not just in Silver-Am, but overall too.
“The Vantage GT3 is the newest GT3 car on the planet and in what we’ve seen of it so far is an upgrade on the old car in every area, so I’m confident we’ll have a very good piece of kit underneath us with which to challenge for Silver-Am success.”