Tolman Motorsport is planning a two-car attack on the Avon Tyres British GT Championship next season after exceeding its first-year expectations.
The Warwickshire-based outfit ran a single Ginetta G55 GT4 for David Pattison and Luke Davenport this year, and has confirmed that a second car will be added to its roster in 2016.
Exact details remain under wraps for now, although Team Principal Chris Tolman hasn’t ruled out the possibility of graduating to the GT3 class.
“We’ve had a very successful debut season but aren’t getting ahead of ourselves,” he said. “We’ll continue in GT4 with at least one car, hopefully for David and Luke, but the second entry is still being discussed. A lot will depend on what our customer wants but I feel like we’ve proven our capabilities this season and are ready to take on another challenge. Nothing has been decided and I’m open to all possibilities, including GT3.”
The team secured a class pole position on its series debut at Oulton Park before Pattison and Davenport recorded a commanding victory at Brands Hatch. The pair’s ultra-consistent campaign, which saw them score points in all but one race, also helped them finish fourth in the final GT4 standings as well as third in Pro/Am.
That was more than Tolman had expected from his outfit’s first foray into British GT after stepping up from the Ginetta GT5 Challenge.
“We had no illusions before the season given how competitive British GT4 has become, so obviously I’m delighted with how well we’ve performed and compared against our more experienced rivals,” he continued. “Originally our strategy was based over three years. We were humble enough to understand there would be a period of learning before challenging for podiums in season two and then the title in season three. To have made so much progress this quickly says a lot about the team and our drivers.”
Indeed, Pattison and Davenport outscored every other GT4 crew over the second half of 2015 and would have featured more prominently in the title race had they finished in the points at Silverstone. Not encountering a single mechanical issue all year also goes a long way to explaining the team’s success.
And it’s that combination Tolman feels has been key to such a strong first year.
“Our biggest asset is our people,” he confirmed. “Everyone at Tolman previously worked at a very high level in motorsport. We don’t cut corners, either, because David has worked very hard to develop as a driver and expects the same level of commitment from the team. He’s pushed himself very hard and the improvement has been noticeable throughout the year. It’s easy to forget 2015 was just his third year of racing.
“Luke has also been a revelation and has helped David enormously. His pace might have occasionally gone unnoticed because of where the car was running but, when he wasn’t the fastest GT4 driver out there, he was still within only a tenth or two of the ultimate pace. Of course that level of consistency has a lot to do with his talent, but it’s also the result of having a well prepared and balanced car he can trust. The overall combination has worked tremendously well.”