A season high 21 car Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup grid is set to battle it out at Silverstone this weekend in the penultimate meeting of the 2015 season, with championship leader Tom Oliphant and former champion Carl Breeze ready to continue their duel for the title.
Breeze signalled his intent for a late title charge last time out at Rockingham, with a dominant double victory seeing the HHC Motorsport man close the gap to Oliphant to 35 points when dropped scores are taken into consideration.
That means Oiphant still has the equivalent of a race win in his favour though, and the Century Motorsport man remains the title favourite thanks to a stunning run of thirteen consecutive podium finishes – a streak only beaten by 2013 champion Tom Ingram,
Oliphant’s title chances were boosted at Rockingham by the absence of the other title contender Jamie Orton, who returns this weekend knowing he must take a big points haul to give himself any chance of fighting for the title at the Brands Hatch GP season finale on October 10/11.
Orton’s HHC team-mate Will Burns is a driver in form having posted five consecutive podium finishes in the last two meetings, results that mean he has an outside chance of snatching a top three championship position, while a maiden race win remains a clear objective.
Burns and Breeze’s recent successes have moved HHC just twenty points shy of the Teams Championship lead, but Century hold the advantage courtesy of Oliphant and the ever-improving Ollie Jackson, who wants a return to the podium by season’s end.
Michael Caine will be aiming to bounce back in his JHR Developments-run G55 after missing the Rockingham race day through injury, while Mectech Motorsport’s Bradley Smith is another potential podium contender having won back at Croft.
Tom Wrigley is another driver with top three ambitions, having taken victories himself at Snetterton and Knockhill with Rob Boston Racing, while privateer Reece Somerfield is hoping to maintain his top six championship position with more front-running results.
Two drivers to watch meanwhile will be the latest race-winners in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge Callum Pointon and Ryan Hadfield, who are joining the grid fresh from sharing the GT5 wins at Donington Park last weekend.
Pointon returns with Total Control Racing having made his debut at Oulton Park earlier this year, taking a best finish of eleventh, while former Junior racer Hadfield and his R&J Motorsport outfit make the next step up the Ginetta ladder for the first time.
They are amongst a host of new entries for the weekend, with Nissan Playstation GT Academy ‘International’ winner Matthew Simmons and ‘Asia’ champion Jose Gerard-Policarpio joining the grid alongside series returnee Carl Boardley and recently-crowned 2015 British GT4 Vice-Champion Graham Johnson.
Optimum Motorsport’s Johnson will bolster the Am class ranks for the weekend along with fellow debutant Tom Hibbert, with class regulars Colin White, Osamu Kawashima, Fraser Robertson, Chris Ingram and Connaire Finn taking them on to match the highest class entry of the season so far.
The overall 21 car entry will be in action first of all in two official practice sessions on Friday as they fine tune their set-ups ahead of the all-important single qualifying session at 12:05 on Saturday. That sets the grid for the opening race, which follows at 17:05 that afternoon, while the second race comes live on ITV4 at 13:45 on Sunday.
Full championship standings ahead of the meeting can be found here.
