The 16-year-old from Stockport joins Will Aspin, John Bennett, Harry Mangion and Karim Sekkat in Elite’s strong GT5 squad.
The Stockport Grammar School pupil began karting aged seven, winning the 2014 MBKC Honda Cadet and 2016 NKF Honda Cadet Championships. He won the 2019 MiniMax Super1 title, finished runner-up in the English Open Minimax Championship and was a leading contender for the British title the same year.
Last year, Haughton ran at the front in the British Junior Rotax Championship, and also contested some BNL and European Championship events in the Senior Max class, scoring a top-10 placing before Covid halted racing. Harley, who has scored over 70 podiums in karting, turned his attention to Sim Racing during lockdown and helped Full Send Racing achieve victories in iRacing’s Endurance series as well as the Nürburgring and Daytona 24 Hour races.
Elite Motorsport, who guided Tom Lebbon to the Ginetta Junior title and James Taylor to the Ginetta GT5 Championship runners up position in 2020, is scheduled to begin its 18-race 2021 Ginetta GT5 Challenge assault at Thruxton over 8-9 May.
Harley Haughton (GB). Age 16. Born/Lives: Stockport:
“I’m very grateful for this amazing opportunity to race in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge. My goal is always to win but consistent progress towards the front and development into 2022 has to be my main focus this year after switching from karts.
“I was recommended to Elite Motorsport by my driver coach, Adam Smalley, who races for Elite again this year. A test at Thruxton went well and I was very impressed with the Ginetta and the team itself. I immediately knew we could work well together and I’m very excited about the year ahead.”
Eddie Ives, Elite Motorsport Team Owner & Manager:
“I’m really pleased to finalise a deal with Harley. He currently has very limited experience in cars but his rate of development in initial testing has been impressive.
“I look forward to seeing him continue to improve as the season progresses so that he’s in a position to hopefully run towards the front of the pack later in the year.”
