Optimum Motorsport is set to race in the full International GT Open season in 2019 with a brand new Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

The team will race with Ollie Wilkinson and Bradley Ellis in the car, with the aim of building on its successes in 2018 (when it competed with Audi) winning two races in the Pro-Am class and finishing on the podium four times.

“2018 was something of a learning season for Ollie, it was his first full year competing in GT3 cars,” team principal Shaun Goff explained. “He made great strides over the season in a car that was tricky for a less experienced driver to get the maximum from.

“While Bradley will continue to lead the team on track, we believe that Ollie will close the gap and as a pairing, will be seeking victories from the start of the season and putting together a championship challenge.”

Bradley Ellis also feels that he and Wilkinson can gun for a Pro-Am title.

“It’s fantastic to commit to a full season in GT Open with Ollie and Optimum. Ollie delivered a strong debut GT3 season, we were competitive from the first round but we had some challenges and our fair share of rotten luck. Contesting every round will give us the opportunity to eradicate some of those issues and really work on podium consistency to increase our title chances, rather than playing catch-up with missed rounds.

“We’ve got another new learning curve with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and racking up the mileage at the two pre-season tests will be key. How we end up in terms of BOP is the big unknown for us, but I’ve no doubt that the team and organisers will work hard to get that right from the start.

“We’re planning to pick up where we left off, taking class wins and aiming for championship top three. With half a grid of top ‘Pro’ cars, outright wins will be a big ask, but not impossible if we raise our consistency, but our main focus is the Pro-Am title.”

The season gets underway at Paul Ricard in late April and concludes at Monza in October. Prior to that, the team will be taking part in the official pre-season tests at Paul Ricard and Barcelona.