Orange Racing powered by JMH returns to British GT this year with a tweaked driver line-up consisting of team owner Simon Orange and Tom Roche.
The team and Orange made their series debut two years ago and contested a full-season in 2023 with Michael O’Brien in the Pro seat. However, the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo is now hunting Silver-Am honours thanks to Roche who first worked with Orange in the Mazda MX-5 series several years ago.
But the partnership is also tried and tested in GT racing; the pair, outfit and car finished fourth overall in GT Cup’s combined classification last term, while Orange/JMH were also crowned teams’ champions.
“It’s great to be back for another season in British GT with McLaren Customer Racing; I can’t wait to get going,” said Orange. “Our first full season didn’t exactly go to plan, so we have made some changes for this year and come into 2024 stronger than ever with the support of our partner JMH Automotive.
“The biggest change is switching from Pro-Am to Silver-Am so I can race with my good friend Tom Roche. I’ve known Tom since our days in Mazdas and we had a good first season together in GT Cup last year, which was the perfect building block for this season. With Tom by my side, we will be going all out for class victory, and more!”
Roche raced in British GT back in 2013 with his Blendini Motorsport operation, which ran an Audi GT3 and Ginetta GT4. But his campaign in the R8 only lasted a few rounds before it was withdrawn.
“I am very excited to be racing in British GT with Simon and the guys at JMH,” he said. “I had a great time with the team last year in GT Cup and was very pleased to be asked to step up to British GT with them this year.
“Simon is definitely amongst the fastest Am drivers on the grid and the team always do an amazing job so if I can do ok against the Pro guys I think we should have a great chance of some good results.”
Orange and O’Brien scored a best result of fourth place last season – the same position they achieved during their one-off outing at Donington in 2022.
The team’s McLaren remains predominantly – and predictably – orange. However, and in celebration of the marque’s Le Mans return, the updated livery is a flipped version of the design that adorned Gulf Racing’s F1 GTRs in 1996.
Oulton Park hosts British GT’s season opener on March 30 + April 1, while this year’s full-season entry list will be revealed at media day on March 12.
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