“It was a dream to share the car with my childhood hero Ben collins (the Stig) even though we DNF”
— Thomas Holland
2023 Review
As the dust and damp of the “Donington Decider” settles and during the drive back home yesterday evening, I have taken some time to reflect a bit on my first season in the Intelligent Money British GT Championship. I decided to share my thoughts with you as we now take a few weeks away from racing before getting ready for 2024!!
This was my first season racing a true GT endurance car. I had never raced on slick tyres before. I had never driven an endurance race session. I had never driven a V8 powered car of any sort, let alone one with the massive 6.2 litre engine that sits at the front of a Ginetta G56 GT4 car. In fact, at the start of the season I had less than 3 years of total racing experience and did not have the advantages that come from racing karts or in junior formulas as a youngster. This was always going to be a very steep learning curve and my expectations from a rookie season were very modest indeed.
However. Despite knowing the smaller and less powerful Ginetta machinery fairly well, from racing G40 and a G56 GTA cars, I was not prepared for what the G56 GT4 package had as potential. The opening race of the season showed this in terrible, wet conditions and when racing on slick tyres the car handled so well that it allowed me to move up three places on the very last lap and take the Pro-Am class win by a whisker. When other cars were struggling, mine handled just how I expected it to, even if we were sliding around the track as if we were running on ice!! We also managed to take P3 in the overall GT4 class – so as a debut race it exceeded my wildest hopes and dreams. Sadly, as a team, we did not make the right tyre call for race 2 that would have allowed us to double up on the weekend….but that is motor racing.
As the season moved through Silverstone, Donington Park, Snetterton, Portimao and Brands Hatch I learned more and more about me and about what the Ginetta G56 can do. We encountered some gremlins from time to time that were frustrating, but all the time it was still giving me the opportunity to learn the car and improve my own abilities. The support from my team, my pit crew, my engineer, my sponsors and Ginetta never wavered though. A great learning period for me and all building on my racing experience and learning what the car was capable of.
The final round of the season was last weekend….the Donington Decider, and oh what a weekend it was. The weather all week had gone from damp to moist to greasy to wet to torrential….sometimes all on the same day. I was also going to be racing alongside my boyhood hero, Ben Collins aka The Stig…..and I will freely admit to being a little star struck!! When it came to qualifying on Saturday we were ready and what a car I had in my hands. It was a rocket ship on rails!! It did everything I asked of it and stuck to its task better than I could ever have imagined. The team and Ginetta had set the #55 G56 up perfectly for me and a P5 qualifying position followed….not only the fastest Ginetta on the grid in combined times with Ben, but I was the 6th fastest of the 34 GT4 drivers in qualifying and (sorry Ben) I was even 1.8 seconds quicker than The Stig!! Like I said….the car was a rocket ship on rails!!
In the race itself we were running 6th at the handover point half way through the race and Ben was into the car with a podium finish absolutely on the cards…when the racing Gods frowned on us again. Somehow we had water in the fuel and part way through his first lap the car simply died on Ben….we were out of the race when we could easily have been taking home some silverware.
So that brought me to the long journey home last night and these reflections.
I feel so incredibly privileged to have been able to race in the Intelligent Money British GT 2023 Championship.
The support I have had from Ginetta has been amazing and something for which I and truly most grateful. They have backed me throughout, placing a huge amount of trust in this rookie.
My sponsors have been outstanding all season too. BPC Group, Warburtons, Bateman Groundworks, The New Homes Group and PCS Energy have been instrumental in me being able to compete and I thank you so much for all your help and for being so supportive as we have discussed my plans for next season as well.
I have been able to race alongside one of my heroes and also people like Ignazio Zanon and Ben Short, who are friends and Morgan Short who has become a friend.
2023 has taught me so much more about racing and has helped me hone my racing skills to a point where with the right car I can be genuinely competitive.
The Ginetta G56 GT4 car has gone from strength to strength and handles so amazingly well in difficult conditions. It is not for the faint-hearted as it is a true race car….and British made to boot!!
I have also had the privilege to test the EVO upgrade version of the G56 GT4 that is being prepared for 2024 which was unveiled at the Donny Decider. If the current car is a rocket ship on rails then the new car is a rocket ship on steroids! More power in a straight line and better acceleration and top speed, coupled with no loss in handling capability, is going to make the upgraded Ginetta G56 a regular podium car in 2024.