Tolman Motorsport will step back from GT3 to GT4 for the 2017 British GT Championship as they become the first confirmed customers of McLaren’s 570S GT4.
The car will be driven by McLaren Cars test driver Joe Osborne – a former GT4 race winner – and increasingly speedy gentleman driver David Pattison, who was coached by Osborne a couple of years back.
“I’m delighted to be finally racing with ‘coach’ Joe,” said Pattison, who won at Brands Hatch in 2015. “I came to racing very late, fulfilling a lifetime ambition. Joe has been instrumental in my progress, and I am hungry to learn more. Having driven the McLaren I feel confident that we have a very good car.
“Joe has coached me over the last four years, but to race with him and be supported by Tolman in the first McLaren 570S GT4 for a customer team is fantastic. It feels like a very good team. It’s my third year in British GT and I really like the format. Benjamin, Lauren and the rest of the SRO team do a brilliant job. I can’t wait.”
Former European GT4 Champion Osborne is going back to the increasingly popular GT4 category after a number of years racing alongside Lee Mowle in a Triple Eight and then AmDTuning.com BMW Z4 GT3 as well as numerous Porsches in the British GT Championship.
“It’s been seven years since I raced in GT4, but in 2017 it will be more competitive than this season, with more manufacturer variety,” he said. “Arguably it’ll be better to watch than GT3. The road-version of the McLaren is a car I know well from work I do with the brand outside of racing, so its performance shouldn’t be a big surprise to me.
“I would say that it’ll be different being lapped again after racing in GT3, but after trying to compete with the new generation cars in the Z4 this season, it probably won’t be much different!
“Working with Tolman and David will be great. He’s another one of my pupils that I’ve worked with since they first began racing. My partner in GT3, Lee [Mowle], was the same. All of the gent drivers do this as a hobby, so my job is to make them consistent and perform well – David has shown he’s capable of more already and we should be in for a good year.”
The 2017 British GT Championship will begin at Oulton Park on April 15&17.
