Century Motorsport will act as Ginetta’s factory team in the 2017 British GT Championship, fielding a pair of vastly improved and re-engineered Ginetta G55 GT3 for the full season.

Two drivers are confirmed for the programme, and will pilot the #73 Ginetta, Nathan Freke and Harry Gottsacker. Freke is no stranger to Ginetta machinery after racing in the GT4 car in 2016 with the University of Bolton team, while 17-year-old American Gottsacker is fresh from a season racing in the Pirelli World Challenge at the wheel of a Performance Motorsports Group run Ginetta G55.

“This is a really exciting year for both Century and Ginetta as together we’re mounting a serious attack on British GT,” said Freke. “We helped run the GT3 car when it first came out in 2011, but this year marks the first time we’ll be involved with a properly competitive GT3 entry.

“The changes to the car are massive. The new Chevrolet engine offers more low-down torque and usable power and the chassis changes will aid slow-speed traction. It will be interesting working with Harry as he’s a promising young driver. He’ll have a lot to learn with the UK tracks and style of racing, but we’ll work with him and he’ll only get stronger as the year goes on.”

The team’s second Ginetta G55 GT3 entry will be confirmed in the coming weeks, but looks set to be an equally competitive proposition for the 2017 season.

For 2017, the Ginetta G55 GT3 will sport several improvements that both the team and Ginetta hope will enable the car to challenge for it’s first outright British GT win. The major developments include an all-new 570bhp Chevrolet LS3 engine (replacing the previous Nissan-derived unit) that is now repositioned to improve weight distribution. A revised front splitter will aid front downforce while the driver experience has also been re-designed to include revised braking master cylinders that require less physical effort, along with a new Motec driver interface and tactile keypad controls.

Having already supported the Yorkshire marque’s GT3 model during its early development in 2011, Century Motorsport are more than comfortable taking on this new challenge. This will be a fitting addition to the team’s extensive fleet for 2017 which now includes the Ginetta GT4 Supercup and British GT4 specification models of the Ginetta G55, the Ginetta GT5 Challenge specification Ginetta G40 and its all new Ginetta G57-P2 prototype which currently makes its way back from a double podium in Dubai.

The 2017 British GT season is set to begin at Oulton Park on April 15-17th.

Photo courtesy of Century Motorsport