Ben Wallace, Nick Worm, Anna Walewska and Callum Hawkins-Row will compete for Team HARD Racing in British GT this season.
The 2016 GT4 Teams’ champions previously announced their two-car entry in early February, and with the series’ Media Day taking place at Donington Park this Thursday, have now confirmed the Silver Cup and Pro/Am pairings that will campaign their two Ginetta G55 GT4s throughout 2018.
Walewska, who spent 2015-17 racing a Century Motorsport-run Ginetta GT4, switches across to Team HARD’s G55 in order to partner 17-year-old Hawkins-Row. The latter – one of the team’s driver development members since 2015 – makes his British GT debut this season but is no stranger to the Ginetta or team with which he finished third in last year’s Britcar GT4 Endurance Championship standings.
Equally, Walewska will continue to support the University of Bolton this year as part of a wider campaign that sees her #34 Ginetta feature an updated National Centre of Motorsport Engineering livery.
“I’ve raced against Team HARD in the British GT Championship so I know what they can do and I know that they can put a competitive car on the grid,” she said. “A bonus for me is my partner Callum Hawkins-Row, a driver who is pretty rapid. Coupled with my experience of racing Ginettas in the British GT Championship, we’ve covered everything that we need to get a good result.
“I want to be challenging for the front – that’s where the goal is set – and I don’t think that is unreasonable with the paring and the car we’re in this year. I will be carrying University of Bolton branding on the car but it will be re-branded as the National Centre of Motorsport Engineering so it’ll be quite exciting to launch NCME for the year.”
Meanwhile, Hawkins-Row identified GT4’s Pro/Am title as his primary objective for 2018.
“I’m over the moon finalising my 2018 season and I’m grateful for the faith that Tony Gilham put in me from BRSCC Fiesta Juniors, into Britcar and now into the British GT Championship,” he said. “I think I’ve gone some way to justify Tony’s faith in me. British GT is a critical step for me to make if I want to pursue my career as a professional driver.
“With Anna, it’s going to be a really solid partnership. I feel that I’m going to learn a lot from her and I feel that I have things that she can learn from me. As a pairing we are going to grow and are going to be very strong. Obviously we want our overall podiums along the way and we want to do the best we can in the overall Championship but that Pro/Am title is calling us!”
Team HARD’s #88 Silver Cup entry sees German driver Nick Worm graduate from BRDC British F3, which runs alongside British GT, to the GT4 class alongside Ben Wallace who contested three rounds aboard Team HARD’s Ginetta last season and also finished third in the VAG Trophy standings.
“The British GT Championship is a very prominent series with a lot of strong competitors and enthusiastic fans so it made my decision to join Team HARD, in the end, quite easy,” said Worm.
“Ben has a lot of experience in GT cars so I guess I have a lot to learn from him. Maybe he can learn something from me from Formula cars which is what this is about – driving and sharing the car - so I hope we’re going to have a successful season together. My objectives for the season are getting to know GT cars in general, to maximise points and get a high position in the championship”
“I’m really excited and looking forward to the new season,” added Wallace. “I’m going to learn as much as possible, keep my nose clean and hopefully get some good results out of it. I haven’t had too much experience working with Nick but I have high hopes that we’ll have some good races together and get some good results. I’m also looking forward to working with Anna and Callum as they have some good experience in the Ginetta and we can help each other out.”
Team HARD’s new driver pairings and 2018 liveries will make their debut at Media Day later this week, while British GT’s opening round of the season takes place over Easter Bank Holiday Weekend at Oulton Park. Secure your discounted advance tickets now using the links below.
2018 BRITISH GT SCHEDULE
1 Oulton Park, March 31-April 2 >> TICKETS
2 Rockingham, April 28-29 >> TICKETS
3 Snetterton, May 26-27 >> TICKETS
4 Silverstone 500, June 9-10 >> TICKETS
5 Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), July 21-22 >> TICKETS (FREE ENTRY)
6 Brands Hatch, August 4-5 >> TICKETS
7 Donington Park, September 22-23 >> TICKETS