Esmee Hawkey will return to the GT Cup for 2017 with the target of winning the GTA title firmly in mind.
The Chislehurst-based racer finished her first season in the GT Cup vice-champion in her Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport. The car made its UK racing debut at the first round of the GT Cup at Donington with Esmee becoming Porsche’s highest profile Cayman racer during the year.
Working with experienced Porsche team GT Marques they put in solid performances at the start of the year, despite being at a speed disadvantage to the other GT4 specification cars. Never the less a double podium at Brands Hatch set them on their way and when the Porsche upgrade package became available in the Autumn the car was immediately quicker.
Two wins followed on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit and Snetterton with the car shedding 40kg of weight due to lighter parts. The final results tally included ten podium finishes ensuring the white, red and black Porsche finished second in the GTA group championship.
“Last year was a good debut season for me in the GT Cup and the Porsche Cayman”, said Esmee. “It’s always difficult when you are running a new car and we only got the Cayman just before the first race. We then had to wait until August before we got the upgrade package. That took a lot of weight out the car and we were much faster in the final few races. It was a shame we had to wait but we still took the title fight down to the last race of the year.”
“We’ll be starting this season where we left off so hopefully we can be in the mix right from the start and going for wins. I’ve got more comfortable in the car after a season’s racing and the team now know it well so I’m really looking forward to getting started and we’re optimistic for a good year.”
The first race of the season takes place at Donington Park on the 22nd April in the first of eight weekends that sees the GT Cup visit Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Snetterton and the legendary Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.