After taking a class win in the most recent race of the Britcar Production Cup Piranha Motorsport come to the Britcar 24 Hours challenging for victory in the competitive Class Four ranks.
Regulars not just in Britcar competition but in the Total Quartz Ginetta GT5 Championship Manchester based Piranha are boosted for the weekend at Silverstone, joining forces with Caterham outfit Fauldsport.
The driving line-up for the team’s Ginetta G40 is led by Piranha team principal Simon Mason, and completed by three drivers that Mason has mentored during their driving careers. Double Scottish Ford Fiesta champion Rory Bryant – partner to Mason through most of the Production Cup season – remains with the team for what will be his first experience of a 24 hour race from behind the steering wheel.
Chris Bialan returns to the team after racing at last year’s 24 Hours, as well as partnering Rory in the Production Cup race at Oulton Park earlier this year. Though Bialan is also relatively inexperienced in 24 hour racing, his race with Piranha in 2011 being his first outing in twice-around-the-clock comptetition. However, the Poole based businessman brings with him the experience in Caterhams as well as driving a Lotus 2-Eleven with Mason in the 2010 British GT Championship.
The team is completed by 19-year-old Ryan Ratcliffe – another to drive for the team at Silverstone last season. This season, however has seen the Welshman take wins in both the Ginetta GT5 Challenge driving a G40 and behind the wheel of Ginetta G50 in the Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship (BEC) with Optimum Motorsport.
The quartet are the only team entering a G40 – though the Ginetta brand is also represented by a G50 and a G55 in the premier class of the race – and racing against production hatchbacks in their class the team are confident they have the right machine.
“It feels just like a mini GT car to drive but it’s significantly cheaper to run,” said Mason, “in fact thanks to Dunlop it’s cheaper to run than our Ginetta Challenge cars and even more fun! Everyone in the team loves that little car, it’s what an endurance race car should be. Ginetta have provided a great starting point for cost effective endurance racing”.
The Checkered Flag will have full coverage of the 2012 Britcar 24 Hours, starting with qualifying at 1pm on Friday September 21, with the race starting at 3:30pm on the Saturday when The Checkered Flag will have full live coverage of the entire race.