Optimum Motorsport head to Portimao with the very familiar Ginetta G55 GT4, but behind the wheel there have been a few changes for this weekend’s (25-26 August, 2017) CREVENTIC 24-Hour Series race.

Dan O’Brien is no stranger to the team having won in Dubai and competed in all five rounds of the championship. The Irish racer is joined by young Ginetta GT5 driver Ollie Wilkinson who will be making his debut in the series. Aleksander Schjerpen completes the line-up and comes from a strong GT background, including victory in the 2016 Dubai 24H race, again at the wheel of a Ginetta G55.

“I am really happy to be joining up with the guys at Optimum Motorsport for the Portimao round of the 24H Series,” said Schjerpen. “It’s been a bit of a mixed programme for me this year, but I think despite the bad luck we had while competing with another team at Imola, I showed that my pace was good during my stints. I know the Ginetta really well from my time in British GT and winning Dubai in 2016, so I’m feeling really confident that we can get a really good result in Portugal next weekend.”

The team enjoy a five-point margin at the head of the SP3-GT4 standings ahead of JR Motorsport, and are mindful that the championship honours are still very much up for grabs.

“We head to Portugal with the aim of wrapping up the GT4 class, so I’m delighted that Dan is competing and defending the championship lead,” said team principal Shaun Goff. “It also gives me great pleasure to see Ollie step up with us into the category. He’s been excellent in the GT5 series and it will be fascinating to see how he progresses over the weekend.

“We also know Aleksander well from the 24H Series and also from British GT. He’s done a lot of racing in the G55, so he can only be an asset to us this weekend.”