Breakell Racing are set to take the next step in their blossoming GT racing programme with an exciting debut appearance in the British GT Championship later this month in the prestigious Silverstone 500 event (27-28 April).
In their third year of professional GT4 racing, the Lancashire-based team will compete in one of the world’s foremost domestic GT championships for the first time with a fantastic driver line-up of Harley Haughton and Carl Garnett in their Mercedes-AMG GT4.
The British GT Championship runs to a successful multi-class format for GT3 and GT4 machinery, attracting a capacity 36-car full-time entry for the 2024 campaign featuring ten different manufacturers and an elite driver line-up including multiple factory-backed GT talents.
Breakell Racing are set to contest a number of races in the ultra-competitive championship this season, starting with the Silverstone 500. The three-hour race on the Grand Prix circuit often attracts the biggest grid of the season, as guest entries take on the full-time competition.
Haughton enters British GT for the first time as the latest milestone in his prospering GT career. A title contender in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge in 2022, he linked up with Breakell last season and made history with them as the third youngest driver ever to contest the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
Garnett will be another British GT debutant as he makes the transition to endurance GT racing after competing in one-make sprint competition so far. A two-time class vice-champion in the Ginetta GT4 SuperCup, he was a multiple podium finisher in the Ginetta GT Championship with Breakell last year.
Haughton and Garnett got their first race experience in Breakell Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT4 last month with an entry into the British Endurance Championship at Donington Park. Proving to be ideal preparation for their British GT bow, the duo came away with a well-deserved class podium finish.
James Breakell - Team Principal: “The British GT Championship is the pinnacle of UK motorsport at the moment and as a team, it’s been an ambition for a long time to get on the grid, so to finally get a programme together is hugely exciting for us.
“We’ve got two years of experience with the Mercedes-AMG GT4 and we know it really well inside and out. We’re confident we can put a fast car on track and that we have a driver line-up in Harley and Carl that can be a competitive force in the Pro-Am ranks.”
Harley Haughton: “The British GT Championship grid has been growing in both quality and quantity in recent years, and I want to show that we belong against this calibre of competition. I’m hoping to make an impression and will be giving it my all.
“Our first run out in the Mercedes went well and was a great opportunity to get some race mileage before our British GT debut. It was a pleasure working with the Breakell Racing team again and we made some positive steps with the car set-up. I can’t wait to get back in the car again at Silverstone.”
Carl Garnett: “I’m very excited to be making my British GT Championship debut. It’s a surreal feeling to think I’ll be sitting in the drivers briefing alongside some of the best racers in the world, let alone sharing a track with them.
“British GT has been an ambition since starting in Ginetta’s back in 2019, so I’m delighted to get the opportunity to do it. I’m heading in with no expectations, I just want to enjoy the experience and put in the best performance possible. Thank you to Breakell Racing for this opportunity.”
Breakell Racing’s entry into the British GT Championship comes as part of another exciting and diverse 2024 race schedule for the Clitheroe-based squad. One of the highlights will be a return to contest the Nürburgring 24 Hours, with James Breakell, Grant Dalton, Grant Woolford and a to-be-announced fourth driver piloting their Porsche Cayman GT4.
The team will once again be racing in the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB alongside the BTCC, expanding to a two-car entry for Reece Somerfield and Karim Sekkat. They’ll also continue in the Masters Endurance Legends series, running their Morgan-Nissan LMP2 in multiple events including the Silverstone Festival.
Images from Robert Borowik Media.