Optimum Motorsport’s Luca Hopkinson is optimistic about winning the GT4 Silver Cup title at the Donington Park decider this weekend, while also aiming for overall honours.
Riding high off his maiden British GT victory last time out at Brands Hatch with teammate Harry George in the #17 McLaren Artura GT4, the pair have reason to believe they can win outright in the category.
Hopkinson and George lead the GT4 Silver Cup standings on 181 points, 11 points over their main rivals, Century Motorsport and the #14 BMW M4 GT4 pairing of Chris Salkeld and Branden Templeton.
The Silver Cup is reserved for all-Silver-rated driver pairings in GT4, pitting Hopkinson and George against the fastest young talents in the field.
“We’re going in with the mindset that we’re winning Silver,” Hopkinson told DSC. “But technically, we can still win the overall championship.
“The only way is if the #90 (Optimum McLaren) and #71 (Century BMW) don’t finish and we win. We’re not wishing bad luck on anyone, but our approach is to aim to win the race and see what happens.
“If it doesn’t work out, we’ll do what we can to help the #90 win overall.”
The 19-year-old claimed victory with George after an action-packed penultimate race meeting around Brands Hatch’s Grand Prix circuit.
“It was almost a relief – like getting the monkey off our back, finally. We’d been so consistently in the top four, and every weekend we were either the quickest or one of the fastest cars on track.
“But we just hadn’t had the best luck with reliability, positioning, or things just going against us. It felt good to finally have everything go our way and win a race.”
Donington hosted the season-opener back in April, where Hopkinson and George failed to reach the chequered flag. Now, seven months later, the same circuit will decide the titles, and this time, the #17 McLaren arrives as a favourite.
“People like to say a strong Donington at the start gives you confidence for the end, but for us, it didn’t matter much because we had an electrical failure and didn’t finish the first race.
“We were testing there [recently], though – the car ran perfectly and we were probably the quickest GT4 car. That’s given us confidence for the weekend, so we’re not looking back too much on Round 1.”
Hopkinson is competing against a number of rapid teenage drivers in this year’s British GT championship, including Mahiki Racing GT4 drivers Josh Miller, Aiden Neate, and Luke Garlick.
As a young talent, Hopkinson feels the competition and his programme with Optimum have helped him to develop as a driver.
“It’s been a big year of learning. I’ve developed not just as a driver, but also in my approach to racing. At first, I thought being competitive just meant being fast, but I’ve realised there’s so much more to it – all the behind-the-scenes work that people don’t see.
At first, I thought being competitive just meant being fast, but I’ve realised there’s so much more to it – all the behind-the-scenes work that people don’t see
“It’s opened my eyes to what factory and professional drivers are actually doing, and it’s motivated me even more.”
His second-place finish at Oulton Park, Race 2, and third-place finish at Snetterton, Race 1, preceded his Brands win, marking a more successful campaign in comparison to his debut season last year in RAM Racing’s #17 Mercedes-AMG GT4.
“Last year was a bit unfortunate, really. We had the extra 25kg for being Silver, and the Mercedes doesn’t carry weight very well at all – feels like an excuse, but that was the reality. Both teams have been really professional, though. RAM Racing last year did everything they could to help us, and Optimum has been unbelievable this year.
“Reliability issues aside, they’ve worked flat-out. The difference this year is mainly me – how I’ve grown as a driver with more experience in the championship.”
The Mercedes and the McLaren differ in that the former has its engine front-mounted, while the latter has its engine mid-mounted, which affects the overall balance of the machinery.
“The Mercedes is very ‘stop, turn, go’ – quite linear. The McLaren is a lot more balanced and momentum-based, and you can carry speed much more easily. It definitely suits me better.”
Hopkinson attributed his victory at Brands Hatch to that ‘momentum-based’ strength. The GT4 class was underlined by a first lap incident where the pole-sitting #90 McLaren of Marc Warren crashed into the barrier before Graham Hill Bend.
This year’s full-season GT4 count reduced from 17 to 12 cars, including competitors in the Endurance Cup who will return at Donington.
Despite fighting with fewer Silver Cup rivals than last year, Hopkinson still believes the competition in British GT4 is as fierce as ever.
“People might say the championship isn’t what it used to be because there are fewer cars, but I don’t think the competitiveness has changed.
“You’ve still got Seb Morris, Charlie Robertson, Jack Mitchell, Jack Brown – all very fast, proven guys.
“So the level’s still really high, even if the numbers are down.”
Optimum Motorsport is poised to secure the GT4 Teams’ Championship title at the Donington decider, holding a 33.5-point lead over Century Motorsport.
At Donington, he and George will serve a 20-second success penalty in their pit stop, but true to his word, Hopkinson is heading there to win Silver – and maybe more.
Images courtesy of JEP/SRO
