BUSY SCHEDULE FOR OLLIE CHADWICK AT SILVERSTONE GP THIS WEEKEND WITH BRITISH GT AND GINETTA GT5 CHALLENGE RACES
BRDC Rising Star to contest nine track sessions in total across weekendBritish Racing Drivers’ Club Rising Star Ollie Chadwick will embark on one of the busiest events of his motorsport career at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit this weekend, 11th/12th June – the Tetbury, Gloucs, based driver is set to contest the fifth round of the British GT4 Championship and the latest three races of the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge season.
Ollie, who leads the GT5 Challenge by 62 points after eight rounds, has been in very impressive form this year for Xentek Motorsport with six race victories and two third places and will be aiming to further enhance his significant advantage at the top of the driver standings on Saturday and Sunday.
In addition to his commitments at the wheel of his Ginetta G40, Ollie will also compete in the headline three-hour British GT Championship race in the GT4 class with the GPRM Toyota GT86. At Brands Hatch in April, the Gloucestershire driver was offered a true last minute deal to pilot the Toyota during the opening event of the season – Ollie drafted in to the squad just before qualifying.
Unfortunate technical issues prevented the car from lining-up for the race itself, but the GPRM team personnel were sufficiently impressed with Ollie’s professionalism and feedback to invite him back for the Toyota’s second outing of the year, this weekend at Silverstone.
Ollie will alternate between the GT4 Toyota and his GT5 Ginetta across five separate track sessions. Beginning with opening practice for the British GT4 Championship, he will then qualify for the Ginetta GT5 races before switching back to the Toyota for the second GT4 practice. In the afternoon, GT4 qualifying will be followed by the first Ginetta race of the weekend.
On Sunday, following morning warm-up for the British GT4 cars, Ollie will contest his second Ginetta race and will then prepare for the big three-hour GT race beginning at 12.50. Immediately after the Silverstone 500 has concluded, which will be screened live on Motors TV, he will be back behind the wheel of his Ginetta for his final race of the weekend, which will also be live on Motors TV.
Speaking this afternoon, Friday, 10th June, ahead of his incredibly hectic weekend, Ollie said: “It’s going to be busy and exciting, but I’ll need to pace myself to get the most out of the weekend. The Ginetta GT5 Challenge is usually fairly intense sprint racing and I’ll need to maintain my momentum in the Championship.
“The GT4 will be very different. We’re still developing the car and, whilst I’m sure Stefan Hodgetts, my co-driver, and I can be quick, we need to bring the car home over a long race. It’s a big grid and we’ll probably have changing weather conditions, so it’s likely to be far more tactical. I’m cautiously optimistic and I’ll be doing my best – but it’s racing, so anything can happen.”
Ollie’s sister Jamie, the reigning British GT4 Champion, won’t be in action at Silverstone this weekend as she is currently taking her A-level exams. Jamie, who competed in the first two British GT events of the season as a stand-in for James Holder with the Generation AMR squad, is due to resume racing during the next British GT round at Spa in Belgium in July, partnering BBC ‘Great British Bake Off’ star Paul Hollywood in a Beachdean Motorsport Aston Martin GT4.
