GREENSMITH JOINED BY GELSOMINO FOR 2016
Brit will compete in BRC opener before a full Drive DMACK Trophy season
Gus Greensmith will use the British Rally Championship as a warm-up before competing in his second full season of the Drive DMACK Trophy in 2016.
Greensmith – who was the highest placed rookie in last year’s DMACK championship – has also secured Ken Block’s former co-driver, Alex Gelsomino, to sit alongside him as co-driver for the season.
With the BRC taking a hiatus in 2015, Greensmith is the reigning Junior BRC champion after winning in 2014. He’ll return to the Juniors in a Ford Fiesta R2T for Mid Wales on March 5-6.
The 19-year-old says the amount of interest and the quality of the prospective opposition in the BRC makes competing in the series a must. “The new revamped BRC is becoming the new scene where young, talented and aspiring drivers can show case their talents,” said Greensmith. “I believe that to get spotted, you have to beat the best at varying levels and in varying places around the world. So I aim to go to Mid Wales and impress, then focus my attentions on the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy for the remainder of the year.”
Greensmith finished sixth in the 2015 Drive DMACK Trophy, with a best finish of fourth in class. However, with the addition of co-driver Gelsomino, the Brit is hoping he can improve dramatically in 2016 and will complete the full schedule once again.
“How much Alex is going to help me this year became evident during the last and only day without problems at Wales Rally GB,” he said. “He helped me simplify my notes, yet increase their significance. My pace increased tenfold, which has given me a lot of confidence going into next year.”
Gelsomino has competed in the DMACK Trophy this year alongside Will Hudson, but the Italian believes Greensmith has plenty of potential.
“We have competed together at the last round of the 2015 World Rally Championship in Wales and we were able to immediately click as a team, which is always a very encouraging sign in a driver/co-driver relationship,” said Gelsomino. “He has impressed me right away as a fast, committed and focused rally driver considering his young age.”
Greensmith will recce in Monte Carlo, Sweden, Italy and France in the WRC, but he doesn’t plan to compete on the events as they don’t form part of the DMACK Trophy calendar. The Brit is also hoping to contest Rally GB in an R5 car.