Ginetta are the biggest unknown in the British GT paddock with the G55 GT3 continually improved with a raft of new features introduced over the off-season, most significantly traction control and anti-lock brakes. Two teams have the car entered for the Easter Weekend curtain-rasier, the championship proving at outlet for those who have reached the top of the company’s single make series.
LNT
#16 – Richard Sykes/Michael Simpson
The plans for two cars from the works team have been scaled back, with a single car entered for Oulton Park. Mike Simpson fills in for Ginetta chairman Lawrence Tomlinson to start the season alongside Ginetta G50 and Ginetta Challenge alumni Sykes.
Simpson’s drive makes him an useful barometer to measure where Ginetta’s winter development has left the car after all the G55 teams spent 2012 dogged by reliability issues. It was those problems that led Team LNT to enter the late season races, Simpson and Tomlinson claiming fourth at Silverstone, proving the race pace of the package against the bigger names of the category while the single lap credentials were proved earlier in the year.
With Simpson filling in when business commitments keep Tomlinson out of the driving the Oulton Park weekend could provide some of the best results of the season, depending on the implications of the off season changes.
IDL-CWS
#40 – Colin White/Tom Sharp
Two of the biggest names from the Ginetta GT Supercup make the move into GT racing, combining the single-make teams into a new team. Driver grading depending the pair make an intriguing pairing with White, though the slower of the two in GT Supercup competition, one of the faster ‘second’ drivers in the series.
Sharp has been one of the leading drivers in the BTCC supporting series, dominating the early weekends in both of the latest two seasons but missing out on the title on both occasions. When Simpson is absent from the works squad Sharp is likely to be fastest man in the G55, though exactly where he and the 2013 G55 GT3 slot into the British GT order is – obviously – yet to be seen. But, if both drivers and the car turn out to be competitive and with a little bit of luck giant-killing might not be out of the question.
