Anna Walewska and Mike Simpson, and Stephen Fresle and Jacob Mathiassen, will race a pair of Century Motorsport-run Ginetta G55 GT4s in this season’s British GT Championship.
Century had already confirmed its GT3 class graduation as the Yorkshire firm’s factory squad, but will also remain in the ‘junior’ category where it has been a consistent front-runner, race winner and champion in recent years.
Its driver line-up mixes continuity with fresh talent. Walewska remains with the Fenny Compton-based squad’s ‘University of Bolton’ entry for a third season where she’s joined by Simpson. The Ginetta factory driver is returning to the GT4 class for the first time since 2009 having helped develop the revised G55 over the winter.
“It's great to be back in British GT with Century Motorsport after our success last year,” said Walewska, who finished seventh last season while partnering Nathan Freke. “I am excited to race with Mike Simpson who has so much experience to bring to the team. Together we will be a fierce driver pairing and I can't wait to see how the season unfolds.
“I am pleased to be representing The University of Bolton again and their National Centre for Motorsport Engineering in what's going to be a very exciting 2017.”
Simpson believes he and Walewska have the ingredients to mount a serious title challenge in 2017.
“My Ginetta driving career started in a GT4 back in 2009, and I am very excited to have the opportunity to rediscover my roots,” he said. “Century Motorsport and The University of Bolton have a good record in British GT and with Anna about to start her third season in the championship, I firmly believe we will challenge for the Pro/Am title as well as the overall British GT4 title.
“Although we won’t have a chance to test the 2017 specification car prior to the season opener, I hope our collective experience will serve us well.”
Meanwhile, the sister car might feature two British GT debutants but Fresle and Mathiassen are no strangers to success in Century’s Ginetta GT4 having only lost last season’s overall Britcar Endurance title on count-back.
And after his 2016 near-miss, Danish driver Mathiassen sees Century and British GT as the perfect opportunity to make further progress.
“I’m very pleased to become a part of Century Motorsport and Ginetta for their British GT Championship campaign,” he said. “After a successful season in Britcar last year, it seemed obvious to continue our good partnership for 2017 together with Stephen Fresle.
“The team is in a huge development with GT3 and prototype programmes alongside their new Ginetta factory partnership. Therefore it’s both exciting and interesting for me to be part of Century Motorsport and I believe we will manage to obtain a successful season together.
“The British GT Championship is one of the most competitive and exciting racing series in Europe with some really high profiled drivers. The GT4 category seems really strong with competitive teams on the grid. Therefore, it’s a perfect place for me to develop my career and I’m really looking forward to racing in Britain for another year. Steve Frelse and I will team up again this year and I hope we can make some good progress over the season with strong results. The atmosphere is really good and I feel very comfortable in both the team and the car.”
Mathiassen’s co-driver Fresle added that maintaining the same partnership had been key to their 2017 plans.
“I can’t really believe it, a couple of weeks ago we were looking around for an endurance series to compete in and then BOOM, Nathan secured a British GT4 entry!” he said. “Jacob wanted to continue the partnership and here we are on the best national GT grid in racing, it’s totally nuts.
“We had a great season in 2016 and to keep that partnership together is something we all wanted to achieve and I can’t thank Century enough for making it happen.”
Oulton Park hosts the opening round of this season’s British GT Championship over Easter Weekend on April 15 & 17. Click here to secure your tickets.
Plus, don’t forget there’s free general admission to our Media Day, which will be held at Snetterton on March 28!