Greystone GT is thrilled to embark on its maiden season in circuit racing in 2021 with two full-time entries in the GT Cup.
The Silverstone-based team will field a pair of McLaren 570S GT4s in the series’ GTH class. Drivers Mark Hopton and Iain Campbell will be paired with international championship-winning racers Adam Carroll and Oli Webb respectively.
The 2021 season will be the first full-time season in racing for Mark and Iain, who each made their circuit-racing debuts late last year, having become involved with Greystone GT through the organisation’s Supercar Trackday programme initially.
Former BAR-Honda Formula 1 test driver Adam, who will co-drive Mark, brought Team Ireland the A1GP ‘World Cup of Motorsport’ title as well as winning the most recent Ferrari Challenge World Finals.
He has also competed in IndyCar, Formula E, the DTM and the Le Mans 24 Hours during a career of over 20 years that also included four wins in the GT Cup in 2019.
Fellow professional Oli will compete in a UK-based series for the first time since fighting for the British Formula 3 International title in 2010.
A highly-successful sportscar racer on the global stage, Oli has won the European Le Mans Series title and the Dubai 24 Hours outright as well as racing prototypes extensively in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Le Mans 24 Hours over the past seven years.
What is Greystone GT?
Created in 2016 by Mark McLoughlin, a single-seater racing champion and former Business Manager of McLaren GT, to run the UK’s best owner-Supercar Trackdays, Greystone GT has grown into a destination for enthusiastic drivers who want to take their on-track experience to the next level
The 2020 season was the most successful to date for Greystone GT, who staged 14 track-based events; adding the new High-Performance Test Day concept to its Supercar Trackdays.
For the past three years it has maintained a growing fleet of GT racing cars for high-performance track use, while also developing a programme to take enthusiastic drivers from Supercar Trackdays up to racecar ownership and through to competitive race action.
Having relocated to a new home at Silverstone in October 2020 and appointed Tim Mullen as Team Manager, to be supported by a team of internationally-established technical and operations staff, Greystone GT is ready to embark on a new era on-track.
How does the GT Cup work?
The GT Cup is a UK-based racing series for GT racing cars. Events typically feature practice, qualifying, two sprint races of 25-minute duration and two longer 50-minute pitstop races with driver changes allowed.
The emphasis is placed on giving Sporting drivers like Mark and Iain as much track time as possible, meaning professionals like Adam and Oli are restricted to taking part in practice and the second 25-minute stint of each pitstop.
Seven rounds will be held at the UK’s best racetracks between April and October with live streaming from all events from Race Television.
Mark Hopton said: “It’s a bit unbelievable to be getting ready to compete in the GT Cup. I’d never driven on a racetrack until three years ago and even when I started, it was just about learning the limits of my road car. Then I discovered Greystone GT and haven’t looked back since. With the team taking care of everything to do with the McLaren, I’ve been able to focus solely on driving whenever I’m at the track. That’s helped me to reach the point where racing was a logical next step and something I really wanted to challenge myself with. Having a professional driver of Adam’s ability alongside me is pretty amazing and he’ll be extremely important in helping to guide me through this first season. Target-wise, I’d like to finish every race, get closer to the front as the year goes on, and just enjoy myself.”
Adam Carroll said: “I’m really looking forward to coming back to the GT Cup and to racing with Mark. I’ve never raced a GT4 car, but I’m always interested to try something new and I know that Greystone GT will always prepare a car to the highest quality level possible, so although they’re new to racing, the staff within the team have a lot of experience. The McLaren is an ideal GT4 car for a driver like Mark, who’s really looking to develop their skills, because it’s quite user-friendly. GT Cup is a pretty ideal series too because sporting drivers like Mark get the majority of the track time on a race weekend and that will help him to learn some of the crucial skills you just can’t develop in a test-day situation. This is very much a learning season for Mark and I’m looking forward to helping him move forwards.”
Iain Campbell said: “I’ve loved cars and motorsport since I was a boy, and throughout all that time, racing has been a box that I just had to tick. I’m really looking forward to having the chance to do that this year. After doing quite a bit of trackday driving, I came to a Greystone GT event, thought it was extremely well-organised, later had the opportunity to drive a GT4 McLaren and knew that this was something I had to do. The team couldn’t have done more for me in terms of my preparation and they were there with me when I made my race debut in December in the pouring rain. This year is all about learning and enjoying. If we can make progress across the year, I’ll be happy with that.”
Oli Webb said: “It’s nice to be shaping up for a UK championship for the first time since I raced single-seater! I started working with Iain a couple of years ago on track days and it’s been great to see not only how he’s progressed in that time, but how much he’s enjoyed it too. It’s going to be a baptism of fire for Iain because there’s still so much to learn - and it’s racecraft that you can only learn by racing! But he’s a fast learner so I think he’ll be able to get comfortable quite quickly. Certainly the McLaren - which I’ve never raced - is an ideal GT4 car as it’s very user-friendly for a driver like Iain. I can’t wait to get going now - it feels like it’s been a long time since the race season ended.”
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “When Greystone GT was formed in 2016, the aim was always eventually to create a team as a destination for drivers looking to move up from non-competitive track driving and test themselves in a racing environment. It’s extremely exciting to confirm our first season of competition with two drivers, in Mark and Iain, who we met on our Supercar Trackdays and who have continuously pushed themselves to reach the next level on-track and asked us to be a part of that journey. They’re both aware of the challenges they face as racing rookies, but both are incredibly fast learners and in Adam and Oli, they have two absolute top-notch professionals not only racing with them, but helping their development every step of the way in and out of the car. Our aim is to make sure both Mark and Iain get the maximum possible from themselves and from us across the year and we can’t wait to get started.”
