R Racing confirms youngest ever crew for British GT debut

R Racing has confirmed what will be the Intelligent Money British GT Championship‘s youngest-ever pairing as the squad enters the GT4 class for a much-anticipated debut in an Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

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The team, which has run in Ginetta Juniors in the UK since its inception in 2019, has continued the trend of all things youth by announcing that 16-year-olds Josh Miller and Jamie Day will be the team’s drivers for their step-up to Britain’s premier sportscar series.

Miller finished eighth in the Ginetta championship last season, while Day is a rising karting star who took wins in F4 UAE before making his switch to GT racing.

Before a wheel has even been turned in anger, the pair are guaranteed one record once the opening round at Oulton Park gets underway. At a combined age of 33 years and 14 days old, they’ll comfortably take the crown as the youngest ever duo to race in the championship – easily surpassing the previous record held by GT starts Will Tregurtha and Stuart Middleton, who were a clear 18 months older when they set the benchmark.

Speaking of records, they’d take a couple more off Tregurtha and Middleton if they won either a race or a title in 2022, and victory at Oulton or Silverstone would secure the duo as the youngest race winners in any class – Sandy Mitchell the current record holder.

While it’s possibly too early to talk about title charges, considering how much quality is already in GT4 this year, if Miller were to win the title he’d snatch Jamie Chadwick’s record as British GT’s youngest class champion.

As said though, there’s plenty of competition for the pair to beat – especially from the band of Ginetta Junior graduates who’ve all moved up to British GT at the same time, with 2021 graduates including Tom Edgar, Freddie Tomlinson and Joe Wheeler, and Seb Hopkins.

“A lot of my old Ginetta Junior rivals are stepping up to GT4 this year so naturally my first aim is to beat them!” he said. “I know Seb [Hopkins] particularly well from when we were team-mates in 2020 so it’s cool to also be battling him for some of the youngest-ever records, as well as race wins hopefully.

“I first tested the Aston GT4, which was one of TF Sport’s cars, back in November soon after agreeing the deal to continue with R Racing. It was a big jump initially but you learn so much in Ginettas that I was able to adapt fairly quickly. In many ways I was surprised by how much of my prior experience could be carried across and applied to driving the Vantage GT4. I’ve since tested R Racing’s chassis at Snetterton with Jamie [Day] who’s great to work with. Of course it won’t be easy – we and the team are all new to British GT – but a few podiums and maybe breaking one or two of those records would represent a great season. Naturally, we’re hoping for even more than that.”

Co-team owner Jamie Ross added: “Nathan [Read] and I are very excited to begin our first season in British GT. We don’t do things by half at R Racing so after watching the championship closely for a few years our goal has been to find a supportive manufacturer and fully commit to the series with a programme that’s capable of giving young drivers the best possible chance of achieving success, just as we did in Ginetta Juniors. Aston Martin Racing is the perfect partner for that. I’m confident that we can hit the ground running and compete at the sharp end straight away.”

Season 30 of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship kicks off at Oulton Park on April 16 & 18.