Those following the British GT Championship will know that there are two classes competing in the same race series; GT3 and GT4. To best explain the differences, and how the classes came about, the words of Wikipedia probably explain a lot better than we ever could:

“A consolidation of GT regulations and significant manufacturer support saw British GT first introduce a GT3 class in 2005. The category later mirrored that of the FIA GT3 European Championship and has used near-identical regulations from 2006 onwards. GT3 rules include extensive performance balancing and handicap weights to make cars artificially more equal. Cost-saving measures saw the series’ previous premier class, GT2, phased out at the end of 2006.

The FIA GT4 class was adopted in 2008 as a stepping stone towards GT3. Regulations governing GT4 ensure the cars more closely resemble their road-going counterparts than GT3 machines. This replaced the unique GTC category that was previously a part of British GT.”

Anyway, we digress. In the latest rounds of the British GT Championship, which were held at Norfolk’s Snetterton race track over the May Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend, in the GT4 Class which sees the likes of Porsche Caymans racing against McLaren 570S’, Nissan 370Z’s and Aston Martin Vantage’s, the Ginetta’s (driven by our team on the track; Team HARD, and other teams as well) put in an improved performance finishing top of the class (HHC Motorsport and Lanan Racing).

The Team HARD run, RCIB Insurance Racing sponsored cars finished in 22nd and 26th in Race 1 and 18th and 21st (9th and 12th in class), with Lanan Racing again representing one of the 2 top spots in their own Ginetta G55. More impressively are the times that separate the top of the table from the bottom – there isn’t a huge amount in it, showing that the cars are always seemingly up with the pack, even when they aren’t necessarily winning races.

Perhaps Snetterton is the track best suited to Ginetta’s. Perhaps they are finding their form as the season progresses, or perhaps the other cars in the series hit their stride earlier in the season and Ginetta badged cars are now competing more evenly. We’ll have more of an idea after the next rounds, at Silverstone on 10-11 June but the signs are looking really positive as we approach mid season…

Picture courtesy of Ian Cutting Photography.