Carl Breeze feels joining HHC Motorsport will give him the perfect platform to challenge for a second Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup title this season.
HHC won the Supercup at their first attempt last year with Charlie Robertson, Breeze having been unable to match their pace in his United Autosports Ginetta G55 as he finished third overall.
With United Autosports not returning to the grid this year Breeze was left to find a new home, with the 2012 champion and record holding 21 time race-winner electing to lead HHC’s title defence.
“You look at their car last season with Charlie Robertson, it was consistently the fastest on the grid throughout the championship and I wanted to get myself in one of the hotseats for this season,” Breeze told TCF at the Ginetta Media Day at Silverstone last week.
“Also I’ve had a long-term association with the chief engineer Alan Mugglestone, who I worked with before when we won the Formula Renault UK title back in 2001, so I know his pedigree and the talent the team have.”
After working with a new team to the championship and a rookie team-mate last season, Breeze says that having a developed car and two team-mates with experience in the championship, second year driver Will Burns and fourth year driver Jamie Orton, is a huge positive.
“We knew Jamie and Will had signed when we started talking to HHC, and one of the incentives to join was having two quick team-mates alongside me,” Breeze explaned.
“The team can work through our testing programmes and set-up a lot quicker with three drivers, and that should push us all forwards to the front of the grid.”
Another positive for Breeze is the fact he’s been able to get a pre-season testing programme under his belt this year, with the Kings Lynn-based racer having become renowned for announcing very late deals in recent seasons.
Breeze Has Started 108 Supercup Races, Carding 64 Podium Finishes – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Alongside the media day running at Silverstone, Breeze will have visited Brands Hatch twice before the season opener in Kent, running that he feels will be vital to starting the campaign well – a tough opening last season had left him 66 points adrift of Robertson after just six races.
“It’s crucial,” Breeze reflected. “The last two seasons due to budget constraints we’ve come into the season late and literally turned up to the first meeting with just the two 45 minute sessions on the Friday to get into the groove, competing with people with eight, nine days of running under their belts.
“History has shown we’ve got off to slow starts because of that, even when we won the championship, so our testing this year gives us the chance to get out the blocks quickly and gives us confidence that we can come away from Brands Hatch with some solid points.”
Breeze feels the key to a successful championship challenge this year will be consistent podium finishes, something he was unable to achieve last season with twelve podium finishes being the lowest of any of his four Supercup seasons to date.
“Last year we had seven different race-winners and there’s no reason why that won’t be the same this year, so it’s going to be tough,” he concluded.
“For us, it’s just going to be important then to score well in every race, to try to average a third place or higher in every race. If you look at the championship winners in the past, that’s the level you’ve got to aim for to win the title, which is what I want to do.”
Breeze was talking to The Checkered Flag at the Ginetta Media Day at Silverstone last week. The 2015 Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup season kicks off at Brands Hatch next weekend, April 4/5.
