Tregurtha and Middleton make GT history
It’s ironic that in GT4’S year of change, it was the old warrior with the young chargers installed that took the title.
GT4 this season was essentially created in Woking as Mclaren’s new 570S GT4 swarmed the grid. After a development season with one car last year, Mclarens invaded as seven chassis joined the fun across the year.
However, while the carbon-chassied 570S redefined the parameters for GT4, it didn’t take home the glory. Despite the influx from Woking, Leeds holds the trophies as Ginetta retained the crown.
HHC Motorsport’s teenage pairing of William Tregurtha and Stuart Middleton were nothing short of exceptional in their maiden season of ‘adult’ racing. Ginetta Junior title rivals last year, they teamed up with GT4 newcomer HHC Motorsport and proved a revelation.
They featured at the head of every race, scoring four podium finishes and three wins to take the title. Despite the G55 GT4 being the oldest car on the grid, updates to the traction control and braking helped it compete with the newer Mclaren. The Ginetta proved to be the more ‘racey’ machine this year, enjoying a traction and cornering speed advantage over the Mclaren, but it lagged way behind the 570S’s huge straight-line pace.
Tregurtha and Middleton proved so evenly matched in the car that their stints were near inseparable. “We’re basically the same in the car,” says Tregurtha. “We like the same setups, take the same lines, make the same decisions, and we’re basically always within a tenth of each other.”
That made them formidable, with Middleton or Tregurtha often alternating longer first stints before pitting during the quietest sections of the pit window and enjoying the greater track space. There was the odd mistake, like Tregurtha’s unforced shunt at Snetterton, but their pace was such that it hardly mattered.
Their biggest rivals were Alex Reed and David Pittard in the Lanan Ginetta. Originally due to share with Joey Foster before business commitments came knocking for the Cornishman, Reed did brilliantly to forge a relationship with the rapid Pittard. The pair won at Oulton Park, and again at Spa to boost their chances. However, they were taken out in the second race at Spa by a guest GT3 entry, suffered a steering failure at Brands Hatch and their challenge finally ended after an unlucky collision at Donington Park.
Of the Mclaren crews, it was again ironic that the best-placed one started the year in a Ginetta! Last year’s champions, Optimum Motorsport’s Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson, switched to the Mclaren for Silverstone and gradually increased their setup knowledge to win the season finale. Their consistency, despite battling some early technical troubles, helped them just pip Reed/pittard to second in the points.
The Track-club team of Adam Balon/ Adam Mackay were fourth in their 570S, after showing great pace, but four non-scores dented their chances. The Garage 59 Mclaren of Sandy Mitchell and Ciaran Haggerty was tipped as the title favourite, but had a chequered year. The car and its drivers were quick enough, but a non-finish in the season opener and exclusion from race two at Spa due to contact after the flag between Haggerty and the HHC Ginetta hurt badly. Haggerty’s crash at Brands ended any hopes, and his season, in sad fashion.
Macmillan’s Aston Martin of William Phillips and Jan Jonck won at Brands, but the team’s withdrawal left Phillips jumping ship to Mclaren. Arguably the fastest car in GT4 – Joe Osborne and David Pattison’s Mclaren – was also the unluckiest. A string of punctures cost them early in the year, despite Osborne’s pace sometimes being in a league of its own. Brake failure at Donington spelled a dramatic end to their Pro-am championship hopes.
Scott Malvern and Nick Jones gradually hauled some pace out of the heavy, underpowered Porsche Cayman Clubsport GT4. A best finish of fifth at Donington was impressive and, with the car now sold, probably marks the last appearance for the rather underwhelming Stuttgart machine in British GT anytime soon.