Ginetta Cars will enter a pair of G55 GT3 cars in a works run effort in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship next season it has been announced.
The move is step up from the company’s 2012 involvement in the championship and continues the racing progress of the G55 GT3, the current pinnacle of Ginetta’s racing models. Last season a number of customer teams – Team WFR, Stark Racing by Hepworth and Optimum Motorsport – ran the revamped G55 GT3, which began the year with a radical looking aerodynamic package and a Ginetta-developed 4.35 litre V8 engine.
George Murrells and Luke Hines combined to finish fifth in the series’ two hour race at Brands Hatch in June, though the best finish for a G55 GT3 – fourth – was taken by works team Team LNT, and drivers Lawrence Tomlinson and Mike Simpson at the longest race of the year, the three hour enduro at Silverstone.
Tomlinson, also the Chairman of Ginetta and Simpson, also scored a pair of victories in the MSA British Endurance Championship whilst developing parts of the GT3 car. The pair – with Tom Kimber-Smith and Richard Dean also entered the Britcar 24 Hours at Silverstone where, though the fastest car in the field reliability problems cost them any chance of victory.
“Ginetta’s outings thus far have proven the Ginetta G55 GT3 as a highly competitive car and a rival for any marque in the GT3 category,” said Tomlinson. “Capable of holding its own on increasingly competitive grids, the G55 GT3 will be an affordable, outright winner in 2013.”
The British GT team will be led by Michael Tallentire and Marcos Lameirao, who having been part of the Ginetta GT program since its beginnings were part of the working to develop the car through the 2012 season.
The G55 GT3 also looks likely to make its first appearances in European series, Tomlinson, Simpson and Team LNT planning further campaigns as well as the new British GT Championship commitments.
