Optimum to defend GT4 title with Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson

For the third straight year, Optimum Motorsport, Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson are to team up and compete in the British GT Championship. 2016 brought no less than four wins in the GT4 class on the way to title success at the season finale at Donington Park. Very much the team to beat, consistency is very much the key as they aim for a repeat in 2017 with the tried and trusted Ginetta GT4 package. For Johnson, the decision to sign up for another season was an easy decision to make.“Optimum is the best team on the grid without question: why would we go elsewhere,” he said. “We've had one minor issue with the car in two seasons of racing. That's testament to the thorough pre-race vehicle preparation carried out by the team.“We head into the 2017 season better prepared and more experienced than any other team on the grid,” he continued. “Of course we want to win the title again and it will be unquestionably tougher still, with more talent and more manufacturers, but we know how to win - and we have the pace to do just that.”The winning package and racing ethos is what competing with Optimum Motorsport is all about for Robinson.“This year Graham and I have had an amazing season and 2016 will be hard to beat,” he explained. “We’re coming back in 2017 with the intention of starting the first race in the same way we have done in the past two seasons. We know the Ginetta inside out and so do the team.“Everyone working with us at Optimum Motorsport know exactly how to win championships in the GT4 category and Graham and I will be working hard on and off the track during the winter to help each other lift our performance even further in 2017.’For Optimum Motorsport Team Principal Shaun Goff, consistency played a big role in the 2016 championship success, with Johnson and Robinson proving to be a fantastic pairing combined with the know-how of the Ginetta GT4.“For sure we want to repeat the same again in 2017,” Goff began. “I'm sure it’ll be a little tougher as we are the champions and the team to beat.“As this year was the second season with the same team same car, it was clear that given most, if not all GT4 pairings, were new we therefore had an advantage. We were quick straight away from day one whilst others had to get to what worked and what didn't!“What we had learned in our first year was the foundation laid for this year and now beyond,” he concluded.The British GT Championship gets underway at Oulton Park 15-15 April 2017, with a further five rounds in the UK and the one ‘fly-away’ round at Spa Francorchamps.


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