Breakell Racing have enjoyed a fantastic end to their 2021 race season, with new recruit Oliver Cottam securing a pair of rookie class podium finishes during the Ginetta Junior Winter Series at Brands Hatch this past weekend (13/14 November).
Following on from an impressive campaign in the main championship with Aqil Alibhai, the Lancashire team went on to end the year on a high as Cottam joined them for his Ginetta debut, having been a podium finisher in the Junior Saloon Car Championship this season.
After showing great progress across pre-event testing, Cottam started the weekend strongly with the third best time of the rookies in Saturday qualifying. After losing a spot on the opening lap of race one, he bided his time before taking the place back on the penultimate tour.
That netted the Shropshire racer a brilliant rookie class podium finish in his debut race, and he went on to superbly take the rookie lead at the start of race two. While he slipped to second in class, he still rose up the overall order to the fringes of the top ten at one stage.
Whilst he would unfortunately fail to make the finish of that race, he was full of confidence heading into Sunday. Qualifying fifth in class that morning, he produced a battling display in the third race of the weekend to gain a place and finish one position shy of the podium.
Cottam fought his way back into the top three in the final race however. Moving up to fourth prior to a long safety car period, he then capitalised on a mistake from a driver ahead to take third place – a result that secured him a brilliant third in the final rookie class points standings.
James Breakell - Team Principal: “It was great to welcome Oli to the team for his Ginetta debut. He quickly got up to speed with the G40 and for his first weekend of racing in such a competitive championship, we feel he did a brilliant job throughout.
“The cold and wet conditions of Brands Hatch in November were certainly tough, but he took it all in his stride and richly deserved to pick up a couple of podium finishes. As a team, it was the perfect end to what has been a fantastic first season racing with Ginetta.
“We’d also like to say a massive congratulations to Aqil for his maiden Ginetta Junior race win and third in the final standings. It’s the culmination of a real year of progression and hard work from him, and we’re proud to have been part of it through our good relationship with Elite Motorsport.”
Prior to the Winter Series, Breakell Racing were one of the teams chosen by Ginetta to run a car for their Junior Scholarship competition at Blyton Park. The latest running of the annual contest saw more than 60 drivers battle it out for the brilliant prize of a fully-funded season in the championship next year.
A busy spell leading up to the event saw the team support a number of drivers in their preparations for the contest with test sessions at the Lincolnshire circuit, before numerous entrants drove the car during the three-day contest (05-07 November).
James Breakell: “It was fantastic to be invited to be part of the scholarship for a second consecutive season. The level of talent in these young drivers, many of whom hadn’t even sat in a car before, was truly phenomenal and shows there’s a bright future for the championship.
“Congratulations to Alisha Palmowski on winning the scholarship – she showed huge potential and will be a great addition to the grid next season. We’re aiming to be running a multi-car entry next season and it was great to speak to many prospective drivers at Blyton Park.”
Breakell Racing have exciting plans in place for the 2022 race season, with aspirations to run multiple cars in each of Ginetta’s one-make championships on the BTCC and British GT packages – the Juniors, GT4 SuperCup, GT5 Challenge and GT Academy.
Alongside this, the team are aiming to continue in TCR competition and the Sports Prototype Cup, with an exciting 2022 calendar for the latter seeing the series visit five different Grand Prix circuits; Zandvoort, Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, Catalunya and Paul Ricard.
Drivers interested in competing in these championships with the team are urged to get in touch via info@breakellracing.co.uk or 07843 388161.