Ade Barwick and Bradley Ellis will return to the British GT Championship with Optimum Motorsport this weekend for a one-off appearance in the series’ blue riband Silverstone 500 event.
The pair will race a Ginetta G55 GT4 similar to the model Optimum used to claim last season’s class drivers’ title with Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson.
Barwick finished third in British GT’s 2014 GT4 standings and has twice claimed Dubai 24 Hours class honours aboard G55s, including in 2017 with Optimum. Ellis, meanwhile, won his domestic championship’s GT3 title in 2007 before teaming up with Barwick in various British GT4 races, most recently at Snetterton 12 months ago.
But with so little testing under their belts, the 29-year-old is simply aiming to enjoy his championship return at Silverstone.
“We’re looking for a fun weekend of racing,” confirmed Ellis. “We had a brief shakedown at Snetterton recently, but we are heading into the weekend a little on the backfoot with no real proper testing or development work.
“In saying that we really wanted to do this event. Ade and I feel we have unfinished business in British GT. If we’re going to do any race this year in the British GT, this is the one to do and we look forward to seeing our many friends in the paddock and having a good race on track.”
The news ensures that Optimum will continue to run a Ginetta for at least one more British GT round after full-season pairing Johnson and Robinson confirmed they’d be switching to a McLaren from Silverstone following two-and-a-half successful years with the G55.
“We have Ade and Bradley joining us this weekend in the Ginetta, which is all good news,” said team principal Shaun Goff. “It will be a bit of a learning curve, but we’re looking forward to the challenge. I’ve been working with Ade already this year in the 24H Series, so I’m confident he and Bradley will be quickly up to speed on what we hope will be an exciting weekend for Optimum Motorsport.”
British GT’s blue riband, three-hour Silverstone 500 race begins at 13:35 this Sunday. Tickets, which start at just £12, are available here, while live coverage is also available on Front Runner TV and the championship’s Facebook page.