Gary Simms confirmed by Optimum Motorsport for the 2012 Total Quartz Ginetta GT5 Challenge

Multiple Ginetta Challenge Championship winning team Optimum Motorsport have announced that they’ve retained the services of last year’s G20 runner-up driver, Gary Simms.

Simms has been promoted to the G40 class and will be behind the wheel of Optimum’s 2011 winning car for the 2012 Total Quartz Ginetta GT5 Challenge.

“It was an easy decision for me to make,” said Simms. “I’ve got a great relationship with Optimum, and was keen to stay with them this year. I know the car will be on the pace and can’t wait to get racing in what I am sure will be an extremely exciting and closely fought Championship.

"I’m also pleased to announce a new partnership with Leasedrive, the UK’s largest independent lease car company who have committed to the G40 project with myself and Optimum for the 2012 season.”

“We have a strong line up this year,” said Team Principal Shaun Goff, “Gary is a quick driver and a great ambassador for the team and I am very much looking forward to working with him again. He joins Thiago Calvet and Lee Mowle who both raced with us last year and I expect to see all three fighting it out at the front of the field!

"David Barker rounds out the team who joins us for his first full season in the GT5 Challenge and based on his early season testing performance I am confident he will have a good season."

The 2012 Total Quartz Ginetta GT5 Challenge will take place over seven triple-header race weekends, resulting in a 21 race season, with over twenty cars already signed up across its three classes. The series caters for both Ginetta G40 and G20 race cars, as well as a G40 ‘Roadsports’ Class for G40 road cars running in road car specification and on treaded tyres.