British GT4’s Class of 2016 swaggered through the gates at Snetterton and wasted no time getting down to business for its official test outing. Despite the no-show from the eagerly awaited Porsche Cayman entries documented elsewhere on DSC, this year’s GT4 paddock shows depth and variety, the ‘junior’ category displaying a sense of stability and evolution, for the first time outnumbering the GT3 entry. Familiar shapes of the perennial Aston Martins and Ginettas graced the garages, but new marques, teams and liveries debuted well in a day’s work largely untroubled by stoppages.

A pair of new Ginetta G55 GT4’s from Tony Gilham’s RCIB Insurance / Team HARD entry settled down steadily in the earlier sessions, bedding in young drivers not only new to endurance GT’s, but in some cases completely unfamiliar with English circuits.

This is proving the attraction of GT4, as 17-year old Wilson Thompson explained: “I’ve been wasting my budget in FF1600’s at home in Ireland, and Hector Lester, who is a friend of my Dad’s, was full of enthusiasm for me getting over here into this. So far I’ve only had the one test day at Anglesey before coming here, but it’s just great. I’ve three or four times the horsepower I’m used to and even so really have the confidence to stand on the brakes. I’m learning new skills every time out today, the car being so much more drivable than Formula Fords.”

Indeed, team mate and ex WRC campaigner Rob Barrable sent up a cheer from his garage as he posted what was at that time the fastest GT4 lap of the day. A 1:57.833 was more than half a second quicker than last year’s best GT4 pole time here. Both the distinctively liveried new G55’s were leading the pace: a great achievement for this promising new team – that was until Rob Bell’s McLaren 570S GT4 spoiled the party by blitzing Barrable’s time by over two seconds towards the end of proceedings. For many the McLaren could be a game changer, BOP notwithstanding, and its presence was certainly felt.

It was probably too cold for drivers to be stood around looking for something to do, but that’s how Abbie Eaton and Marcus Hoggarth found their day panning out, Ebor GT’s purposeful looking all-new Maserati GT MC GT4 up on its jacks after an early driveshaft failure spoiled further running. Abbie Eaton was upbeat however, “The car is only a week old and it’s our first seat time today. It’s a big car but actually it feels good from the few laps I drove it – and it sounds phenomenal! Marcus is a quick pedaller and we would like to compete in the top half and see where that takes us as the season progresses.”

The hard work put in by GPRM with their fan favourite Toyota GT86 ran only in the morning session as the team look to bed in a much revised package. Engine building has been brought in-house at the team’s Buckingham base after a trying 2015 and the team has made a switch to LIFE for their electronics package from Cosworth in search of further improvements:

“We’re delighted with the changes so far,” said Team Manager Gary Blackham. “We know we have to prove the package but we firmly believe we’ll be right there against the opposition.”

Stefan Hodgetts was out on track with the #86 car, “We are talking to others about the start of the season,” said Blackham.”

There will be additional seats available too at GPRM as the team arrived with a second Toyota, numbered #68, “We are very serious about proving the potential of the package, and we took an early decision to show that confidence.”

Elsewhere for Ginetta, Nathan Freke was back in business with a brace of G55’s for seasoned campaigners Century Motorsport: “It’s exciting to be running a two car operation again. British GT is at its peak – we have a strong year ahead of us and GT4 is a thriving class. I managed one drive at Donington at the end of last season, and with the deal she has with the University I’m looking forward to the full year ahead with Anna as my team mate. It’s an affordable class and, frankly, a good place to be.”

Century Motorsport has paired its podium placed and wholly Ginetta-friendly Norwegian Aleksander Schjerpen with British GT4 rookie Sean Byrne, who observed jovially: “Well, this is a bit different to Caterhams – I’ve got an ‘A’ pillar to look at for a start! The Ginetta is heavier, bigger and of course more powerful. This is a proper step up for me for sure but Century knows how to run these. It’s just the driver that needs some work..!”

Another strong favourite for Ginetta contention this year should be the PMW Expo / Optimum Racing G55 of Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson. This amiable pairing showed well in their first British GT4 season last year and if consistency and familiarity is indeed key should have a good start to the year.

Graham Johnson:” We need some luck, but we’re capable of winning and confident. This is a big field for this class and we will need some respect from the GT3 drivers. We’ve always looked out for them and they’ll need to appreciate we are fighting hard too, perhaps more so this year with the greater numbers. Mike and I form the oldest driver pairing on the GT4 grid; we have 28 years experience shared equally between us. We work together in our day jobs and we’ve always raced together, which is a big plus. Having had a win and podiums in our first season last year we don’t want to miss out on the opportunity that advantage offers us. There’s an element of mind focus that brings.”

Mike Robinson: “Yes. Being that bit older and having that experience puts us in a stronger position than some of the GT3 pairings, though there’s no concession for weight..!”

So, what of the Aston Martin representatives?

Championship winners Beechdean were setting their stall out for more of the same, Jordan Albert and Jack Bartholemew, as announced, taking over the successful #407 Aston Martin and with her erstwhile team mate stepping up to GT3 duty in 2016 Jamie Chadwick was philosophical in her newly acquired GT4 ‘pro’ status and a coaching role with the team’s incoming rookie drivers while she puts her academic progress first (see separate story). Celebrity TV baker Paul Hollywood was suited up in Beechdean colours and happy to be sampling what may well lay ahead for him later in the season, all adding to the flair of GT4 this year.

After mixed British GT3 experience a couple of years ago with their Bentley, Generation AMR roll out a pair of Vantage GT4’s in MacMillan Racing and SuperRacing guises. Team Manager James Appleby was clear to point out that although the team pools its experience there is a wall between each garage and each runs its own race. There’s also big pressure in fielding their chosen drivers:

“The SuperRacing #44 car features Matt George and Superdry clothing brand co-founder James Holder. Both have only National ‘B’ licenses, James only doing his ARDS a month ago. That means we have to get them upgraded before Brands Hatch, so we’ve got them doing twelve races each in a variety of cars. You’re only allowed two races per day so the pressure’s on a bit…”

As for the #42 MacMillan car, both Matthew Graham and Jack Mitchell continue the teenage GT4 driver trend, though both have plenty to show for their young careers. “They tested at Donington together and they paired really well,” James continues. “With the Aston a proven package we feel this is a strong entry and we can push for the championship.”

2014 GT4 Drivers Champion Jake Giddings knows about that situation. And after a consolidating year with the JW Bird Motorsport Aston Martin GT4 last year finds himself back as the more experienced Pro to Kieran Griffin in the #47 Vantage:

“Last year was a learning year, particularly for Kieran, but for me there was never any doubt with the car or the team. We managed a podium as the year went on and we’ll be looking for more now Kieran is more settled. If we can work on that improvement there’s every reason to be up there.” The likeable ‘local’ from Wisbech was also quite complimentary regarding the new Pirelli rubber, a sentiment echoed by others: “I think they’re better. There was nothing wrong with the Avons, but these certainly seem more durable, which allows you a bit more power out of the corners. It could be worth a couple of seconds a lap.”

That advantage was also recognised by Jamie Chadwick, who had described the combined Pirelli, new aero and seven-speed gearbox combination as “feeling a bit like a GT3 / GT4 hybrid”, able to blip down through the gears rather than balancing speed into corners as was the previous necessity.

It wasn’t all good for the Aston Martin revisions at this session however, Stratton Motorsport’s David Kershaw explaining their recalcitrant Vantage GT4’s issue as an electronic glitch also being experienced by other Aston Martin GT4 runners: a software issue recognised by the factory, but alas no cure was available at Snetterton on the day.

But it was upbeat on the other side of the Stratton garage though, Kershaw’s more familiar charge of last year’s race winning Lotus Evora GT4 back on home turf after a late deal brought American campaigner Will Hunholz and ex-pat Brit Robin Shute to the car as one of GT4’s Silver driver pairings. Quickly on the pace, the Evora was soon topping the GT4 class times, smiles all round from the works supported half of the Stratton team.

This was undoubtedly a competitive and concerted effort by the GT4 paddock to get stuck in, at times looking more like a dress rehearsal for qualifying than a shakedown for some of the cars that fancied a go. Bring on Brands Hatch.

Martin Little