The Norfolk team made its GT4 European Series debut with a pair of McLarens last year, closing out the season in magnificent style by claiming outright victory in the Barcelona event last October.
In addition, Elite scored a second overall placing in the Spanish finale, also clocking up three Silver Cup podiums, a pole-position and fastest race lap.
Lebbon made his GT4 European Series debut at Hockenheim last September, re-uniting with Elite with whom the Suffolk youngster won the 2020 Ginetta Junior Championship and claimed multiple GB3 single-seater victories in 2021 and ‘22.
Meakin, who celebrates his 17th birthday this month (18 Dec) also has GT4 experience. The West Yorkshire teenager finished second in this year’s Porsche GT4 Sprint Challenge in Southern Europe and the British GT Championship.
In BGT, Zac began racing a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 but switched to Elite’s McLaren, operated by Parker Racing, from Portimão onwards.
The brand new Winter Series is exclusively for GT4-class race cars and runs from January to March visiting iconic racetracks. The series begins at Estoril (Portugal) in mid-January and concludes in Barcelona in early March
Tom commented:
“It’s a pleasure to race for Elite in the GT4 Winter Series. I’m looking forward to competing in the McLaren again after doing a one-off GT4 European Series event this year in Germany and thoroughly enjoying the experience.”
Zac added:
“I’m really excited to join Elite for the GT Winter Series racing the McLaren. I raced Elite’s Artura when I swapped to the McLaren halfway through the British GT season. I have many positive opinions of Elite who were also on-hand to assist the team I ran with in BGT. I can't wait to compete with them this year.”
Eddie Ives, Team Owner & Manager
“As we embark on our first European GT4 Winter Series campaign, we’re excited to have a strong driver pairing concerning our first entry. Zac Meakin and Tom Lebbon have both previously proven their ability with us in the GT4 McLaren Artura."
“I’d love to field our second McLaren and so would be delighted to hear from interested parties. This series will act as a great ‘winter warm-up’ for drivers in preparation for the normal season.
“We brought down the curtain on our maiden GT4 European Series this year in style and so we compete in the Winter series with high hopes of success.”
Schedule
13-14 Jan: Estoril, Portugal
20-21 Jan: Portimão, Portugal
10-11 Feb: Jerez, Spain
17-18 Feb: Valencia, Spain
02-03 Mar: Aragón, Spain
09-10 Mar: Barcelona, Spain
