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Brock Gilchrist, of Matakana, has won the GT4 class in the Summerset GT New Zealand Championship, taking out the honours after being awarded the inaugural Giltrap Motorsport junior scholarship.
After 15 races in five rounds around the country from November to mid-March, the 20 year-old McLaren 570S driver was named winner in the popular GT4 category. Behind him on the points table were James Sax in a Mercedes-AMG, with Garth Piesse in a BMW M4 in third place.
Rick Armstrong won an Open class in the same field, with Sam Filmore second and Luke Manson third. Each round of the championship featured two 30-minute races and one 60-minute race with a compulsory pit stop.
Brock beat almost 40 other young drivers to be chosen for the first Giltrap Motorsport junior scholarship last spring, setting him up for the championship season in a $375,000 McLaren race car, with running costs sponsored by SMEG and SP Tools.“It’s been an opportunity of a lifetime,” he said last week. “Car racing is really expensive and this scholarship covers a full season – driving a McLaren, of course. For me it’s a dream come true to be able to race such a cool car and represent such a prestigious brand, with so much history.”
Brock said he felt himself very fortunate to get the scholarship, “and to win the championship in the first year after getting it – it couldn’t have started in a better way”.
“I look forward to seeing who gets it next year, and see how they go.”
Brock said he learned a great deal from other members of the team, including mechanics, an engineer
“It’s not just the driving – you’ve got all the behind-the-scenes stuff that people don’t see, but is obviously a big part of any success.”
Brock has little time to rest on his laurels. Having also won a Team Porsche New Zealand scholarship late last year, he’ll be racing a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car in the upcoming six-round Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge in Australia. He has a test day lined up on Thursday, ahead of round one in Phillip Island, Victoria beginning on April 12.
Brock, who’s undertaking an apprenticeship with Laser Plumbing Silverdale, will be flying back and forth from Australia to race over the months ahead, “which will be really cool”.
“The people at work are really good, really supportive. I’m lucky that I get to do both.”
Brock noted that two previous Team Porsche New Zealand scholarship holders, Matthew Payne and Ryan Wood, were now racing in the Supercars Championship.
“You can’t guarantee anything, but that’s obviously what I’d like to head towards,” he said. “That’s the plan and the goal.”
