Luke Garlick is taking his first steps in GT3 competition as part of Bridger Motorsport’s new Honda NSX effort in the British GT Championship this year.
The 18-year-old has been paired with fellow debutant Johnny Ip, an Amateur-graded driver, to co-drive the team’s #86 NSX GT3 Evo 22.
As the 2023 Ginetta GT5 champion and a contender for the Ginetta GT championship last year, Garlick (below) is no stranger to standing on the podium.
British GT, however, has provided a unique challenge for him to drive a GT3 car and develop with the new, ambitious Bridger Honda programme.
“Challenging to say the least,” he told DSC when asked about his season so far after one race, the Donington Park opener. “As you can imagine, the cars are very different.
“It’s a new team for me, a new concept with driving with another driver which I haven’t had before, so it’s been a lot to get used to, and you saw that at Donington.
“I’m developing alongside the car, which is a nice thing because then I can grow with the car and grow with the team. And being a step up into GT3, you know, it is quite challenging as a driver.
“The biggest difference I’ve found from the Ginettas, to now, to go into GT3, is just the power and downforce, really. And it’s about the concept of how to use the downforce and how to use everything I’ve been given.
“That is the biggest challenge I’ve had so far, but every time I step into the car, I seem to be getting quicker and quicker.”
The experience involves making a driver change midway through the race, or more at the upcoming three-hour Silverstone 500 race. In the two-hour season opener at Donington, Ip drove the first hour before Garlick took over the seat for the second half.
“It’s definitely a new experience for me, with the driver change,” Garlick admits. “We’d been planning it, we’d been rehearsing it. And it’s just, it’s a difficult thing to get right when you’re first time out. But I think the team did the right job.
“We know what we could have improved on, but we took some positives away from the pit stop, especially because you know the race can be won or lost in the pit stop, because you can lose and gain so much time in it.
“I think we did a good job, and it was just alright for the first time – there were no major mistakes.”
Coming from single-make racing with Ginetta, another key skill Garlick needs to master is traffic management. Though he notes that he does have experience to draw from while out testing during track days.
“I’ve learned how to adapt myself in that situation and environment,” he explains. |But it’s challenging, especially in a racing scenario where you don’t want to lose any time like it, like it was at Donington.
“It’s as long as you pass them safely and you know where you are, it’s kind of a nice rhythm and it doesn’t interfere, it’s just kind of another aspect of the racing.”
With the NSX having never raced in British GT, and Bridger Motorsport new to GT3 racing, the team is setting realistic expectations and valued reaching the finish on debut earlier this month.
“The reliability of the Honda is definitely a very big strong point. They’re strong and they’re built to last, which is especially good for endurance races this season,” Garlick says.
“So my impressions of the Honda so far are quite good, but I think there’s still a lot to improve on with the new team, new drivers.
“[Jonny] is a lovely guy. I get on well with him, which is what you want. The team’s bringing him along… he’s quite quick as well. But someone with as little experience as he has, he’s a good Am.
“But I think we can go a step further, and start to push to get better results, to push up the grid.
“We’re fighting to win the Silver-Am [class]. I think that is the main aim this season, and I think that with the Honda, we can do it.”
There are 27 full-season GT3s in British GT, yet Beechdean Motorsport’s #97 Aston Martin Vantage is the only other full-season Silver-Am entrant. However, at Silverstone this weekend, the class has swelled with seven Silver-Am cars entered, adding to the challenge for Bridger at this early stage of its programme.
Bridger Motorsport finished 10th overall at Donington, and Garlick set a fastest lap time of 1:27.44. The team looks to build on that with another top 10 finish on Sunday.
“I think we got into a rhythm at the end of Donington,” Garlick adds. “My pace was quite consistent and I was quite happy with it.
“We had Media Day at Silverstone, so we’ve got a bit of experience [and] a base set-up to go off and we can just build from there really, when we go testing on Friday.
“So I’d say I’m excited. I can probably tell you that the team’s quite excited, a bit anxious, but then who isn’t going into the second round?
“I think it is a massive challenge because the team’s new this year, and everyone else on the grid has been running cars for many years. So we’re fighting an uphill battle.
“But I think if we can have some good, consistent results, get consistent points – and especially from the Silverstone race – I think we can make ourselves known and have an impact.”
DSC’s coverage of the 2025 British GT Championship is powered by Birch – world-class automotive asset management at Gatwick
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
