Setting the scene
The British GT Championship returned to Donington for the first time after the circuit was downgraded from two races a season to just one. The circuit that had once bookended the season was now the penultimate round of the 2026 championship. The entry list for this event was broadly similar to that of the preceding round at Snetterton circuit. In terms of full entries there were two losses and one addition. The #9 Paddock Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Mark Smith and Martin Plowman elected to miss out on Donington. In an Instagram post ahead of the weekend, Paddock Motorsport reported that Smith had decided to 'take a break' after the #9 suffered a double-DNF at the previous round. They intend to return at the season finale at Brands Hatch. The #69 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Steven Lake and a selection of partners formerly of late Mahiki Racing and now of Orange Racing by JMH was also absent from the Donington entry list. Lake also skipped the Oulton Park round in May, so this comes as much less of a surprise. On a sunnier note, the new entry came in the GT4 category from Innovation Racing, who were sitting second by 1.5 points in the overall championship for that class going into the Donington weekend. To supplement their already successful #74 Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo, they entered another Ginetta, this time the #5 featuring British GT debutants James Wareing and Samuel Branston. The pair had been leading their class in the GT Cup Championship in the same car with the same team. Hopefully they would be able to continue their success despite the significant step-up in quality from their regular championship. Due to its latter day entry into the championship, they are ineligible to score points in either the teams’ or drivers’ championships.
In addition to these team changes there were also some driver changes. 2025 Champion Aaron Walker came back to 2 Seas Motorsport to replace Ian Loggie alongside Charles Dawson in the #15 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. Loggie elected to understandably prioritise recovering from a surgery earlier in the summer, hopefully he is better come the Brands Hatch weekend. Also at 2 Seas, Verstappen.com racing driver and noted simracer Chris Lulham came in alongside Kevin Tse in the #18 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. He replaced Ben Green who took the weekend off due to a 'a busy racing schedule'. Additionally, Jordan Collard returned to British GT for the first time since 2022 to join the revolving door of partners for John Hartshorne in the #97 GBR Stratton Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo. He is replacing Jonny Adam who in turn replaced Ronan Pearson.
On Saturday, there were the two Free Practice sessions, one dubbed 'Pre-Qualifying' in the morning, at sixty minutes apiece, followed by four ten-minute Qualifying sessions, two for each class across forty-five minutes in the afternoon. On Sunday there was just a fifteen minute warm-up in the morning, and then the two-hour race to round out the weekend.
In the overall class drivers' championships, Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat led GT3 with 105.5 points, 13.5 ahead of Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski. In GT4, the championship is a lot closer, with Will Orton and Jessica Hawkins lead the championship with 106 points, leading Thomas Holland (no relation) and Hadley Simpson by 1.5 points, Jack Collins and Branden Templeton by 6, and Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner by 7.5. In the teams' championships, Barwell Motorsport have a commanding lead in GT3 with 180 points, 21 clear of Optimum Motorsport in second place. MK Racing are in a far more precarious position, with Innovation Racing, Toro Verde GT, and Century Motorsport behind them by the same margins as behind Orton and Hawkins in the drivers', respectively. But with a maximum of 37.5 points available at the end of this weekend's race, positions in all championships are still all to play for.
Saturday
Free Practice kicked off the weekend, with the drivers dialling in setup changes ahead of driving the cars in anger that afternoon. In terms of mishaps, there were a few during this session. Whilst being driven by Hadley Simpson, the #74 Innovation Racing Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo brought out the Full Course Yellow (FCY) when it ground to a halt at the Melbourne hairpin. It was pushed off by marshals and green-flag running was able to resume within two minutes. The issue ended up being a faulty driveshaft, which side-lined the car for thirty-five minutes until Thomas Holland was able to bring the car back out under its own power. However, there were more incidents to come. Just before the end of the session, Cameron Campbell ploughed the #13 Rodin Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo into the gravel at the old hairpin, beaching the car and bringing out the red flag. Since there was less than a minute left in the session, race control wisely decided there wasn't much point to resuming the session. Charles Clark in the #44 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo topped the timesheets for this session posting a time of 1:26.030, a clear six tenths ahead Hugo Cook in the #63 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. In GT4, Blake Angliss posted the fastest time, a 1:34.555 in his #84 Paddock Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4. Additionally, during the session, Toro Verde GT identified an issue with the oil pump on their #8 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS. It was driven away from the circuit between the two practice sessions in order to, according to the team manager, replace the engine. The car would not return within the day, leaving a conspicuously empty garage.
Pre-Qualifying came next, so-called due to the fact that its' results can substitute if standard qualifying cannot happen for whatever reason. There wasn't any action this session in terms of spills, with green running from the time the pitlane opened until the chequered flag fell. The excitement came from thrills, with ten separate overall fastest laps being posted across the session, with times tumbling down to 1:26.266, set by Chris Lulham. He sat ahead of the returning nearly-man of Hugo Cook, who was able to reach within six hundredths of Lulham. Jordan Collard made a statement on his return to British GT by setting the fastest lap of any of the GT4 runners, a 1:34.443, sixteen thousandths faster than Jack Mitchell in the #61 WSR FlexiFly BMW M4 GT4 Evo. Collard's achievement is made even more impressive by the fact he hasn't seemed to have driven any kind of car in anger in the last four years.
After a break for lunch, the GT3s came out for qualifying. The first of the twin sessions was for the amateur halves of British GT's Pro-Am line-ups. Kevin Tse opened things with a 1:31.715, but the first competitive time came from Simon Orange in the #67 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren 720S GT3 Evo with a 1:28.446 thirty seconds later. However, that was almost immediately supplanted by Jonathon Beeson in the #44 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo with an improvement of six tenths. Alex Martin then made a further three tenth improvement, and Marc Warren in the #90 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo dropped the time for provisional pole a further second to 1:26.660, both within the next thirty seconds. Things then calmed down a little with Warren improving his time on the next time around to 1:26.539. Whilst he was completing his next lap, Beeson brought the bar down half a tenth, but this was short lived. Marc Warren topped the timesheets for this session with a 1:26.356.
It was then time for the pros to have a go behind the wheel of their GT3s. This session was far less chaotic, perhaps reflecting its participants' consistency. Marcus Clutton of the #67 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren 720S GT3 Evo opened bidding for pole with a 1:25.870. Ben Barnicoat, taking some time away from his flagship campaign with Lexus in IMSA, posted the next fastest time with a 1:25.640 in his #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. Things then calmed down for a few minutes before Charles Clark reprised his pace from practice by posting a 1:25.591, which stood for a further five minutes. With the chequered flag waving, Chris Lulham made a six hundredth improvement at the death to supplant Clark as pole man.
Then it was time for the GT4 runners to have a crack at qualifying. With their line-ups being less clearly Pro-Am than the GT3 competitors, there is less of a clear delineation between the two sessions. The first session was dominated by Hadley Simpson and his #74 Innovation Racing Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo. He posted the first fastest time, a 1:34.886, on his first flying lap. He was briefly supplanted by Josh Stanton's 1:34.482 in the #59 Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4. Simpson returned to the top and bettered his previous time by over a second to a 1:33.776 on his second flyer. His time tumbled to a 1:33.442 and then a 1:33.365 on his two subsequent laps to bring the session to an end.
GT4's second qualifying session went somewhat differently, but fairly similarly to the first. The start of the session was dominated by anyone who was driving an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo. All on their first flying laps, Darren Turner, Jordan Collard, and Will Orton all set laps in the mid 1:33s that briefly sat on top of the times. Then Jack Mitchell set a 1:33.176 in his Ginetta and didn't leave the top. On his next lap he improved to a 1:32.964 and that was all for GT4 qualifying.
The times of these two sessions were combined to produce the grid, which put the #44 of Beeson and Clark on pole for GT3. Their combined times added up to 2:52.081, one and a half tenths quicker than Rob Collard and Hugo Cook in the #63 Barwell Lamborghini who line up beside them. The #84 of Angliss and Lake, despite not leading either of the two sessions, ended up on pole for GT4 with a combined time of 3:07.911, six hundredths ahead of Lavery and Turner in the #27. Most of the reason they were able to achieve this was the #74, #42, and #5 being disqualified from qualifying due as-of-yet undisclosed 'technical infringements'. These cars were later forced to start Sunday's race from the pitlane.
Sunday
The second day of British GT action at Donington began with the fifteen minute warm-up session. A feature of a race weekend that was once commonplace but now British GT seems to be the last holdout. The fifteen-minute session occurred without major incident, with the main interest occurring when the #61 WSR BMW, with Colin Turkington at the wheel, started moving unusually slowly around the circuit. This ended up being an electrical issue, with the car's pitlane speed limiter erroneously stuck on. Turkington was able to bring the car back round to the pits, and the team was able to reset the system and continue as normal. This session also saw the triumphant return to the weekend for the #8 Toro Verde Porsche. Now with a new engine, the car was able to complete four laps and get situated before starting the afternoon's at the back of the grid.
Just before the race was set to start, there was a brief twenty-minute downpour. Despite the fact that it did not continue after the green flag fell, it did mean that the track surface was wet enough to warrant the entire grid starting on the wet tyres. In GT3, the race started with the pole-sitting #44 of Jonathon Beeson getting bogged down at the start and allowing the second-place #63 of Rob Collard to come alongside and eventually pass him midway through the first lap. The #63 was able to then hold onto first position for the rest of the race, bar a brief period on laps 18-19 when Collard made his first pitstop to move on to slick tyres. Marc Warren in the #90 briefly held the lead during this time before he himself had to switch to slicks. With Collard, and later his teammate Hugo Cook, able to hold their lead at around twenty seconds over their closest rivals, the real battle for overall positions during the race was for second. This was the first of a number of similarities with last years' event, with Collard and Cook securing back-to-back wins at Donington. After being overtaken, the #44 held on to second place until lap thirteen, when it was overtaken by the #90. The #44 later suffered an off which damaged the rear of the car severely. Despite initial reports saying that the car would be unable to re-join, the team was able to repair what they could and the car returned to the circuit. Even if it finished 9 laps off the leaders, it was certainly one of the best sporting stories of the weekend. After some shuffling around during the first round of pitstops, the #15 of Charles Dawson emerged in second place. The #90 was able to recover its second place at the end of lap 22 and held on to it until the second round of pitstops around lap 36 when the #15, now driven by Aaron Walker, came out behind the #63. Things stayed that way until the charging #18 of Chris Lulham who rose up from fourth to second on lap 62. The order stayed that way until the end of the race, despite Lulham setting two consecutive fastest laps of the race on laps 43 and 44. The overall podium ended up being Rob Collard and Hugo Cook in the #63 in first, Kevin Tse and Chris Lulham in the #18 in second, and Charles Dawson and Aaron Walker in the #15 in third. The only non-finisher in GT3 was the #77 of Morgan Tillbrook, his teammate Ben Barnicoat was unable to take to the circuit because Tillbrook beached his McLaren in the gravel at McLean's corner, mirroring an incident he had at that same corner last October. That incident brought out the only FCY of the race, slowing things down for laps 26 to 28. Barwell's strong performance this weekend came with something of a bittersweet feeling, with rumours around the paddock indicating they may miss out the 2027 British GT season to focus on adapting to the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3 before returning in '28.
The GT4 field saw the only two cars not to start on wet tyres, with the #74 of Hadley Simpson, and his stablemate Samuel Branston in the #5 electing to start on slicks. Simpson later joked that this decision was inkeeping with the team's 'Innovation' name. Despite this gamble not making a major difference to the cars' performances, they did serve as a helpful benchmark for their competitors on when the crossover time to switch to slicks could be. Perhaps innovation would have been better putting the non-points scoring #5 out on slicks to help with strategy calls for their championship hopeful #74, instead of their competitors. Blake Angliss in the #84 Paddock McLaren stormed off from pole early and established a healthy lead over the charging Jack Collins in the #24 Century BMW who rose from fifth to second in class. Behind them was Josh Stanton in the #59 Optimum McLaren, who held his third place from the grid despite lots of movement around him. Angliss built up a sixteen-second lead over second across the first period of the race, which was then bolstered when Collins received a ten-second penalty for an off-track overtake in the opening laps. That gave Angliss such a substantial advantage that he was able to eke out his wet tyres until the end of his stint. This meant that he was able to hand over the car to Revie Lake when the track was bone dry. The sixteen year old lake took over on slicks, and his win was never in doubt. The only other car to finish on the lead lap in GT4, the #40 Aston Martin of James Townsend and Joe Wheeler, was later disqualified for allowing an unauthorised person to enter Parc Fermé before the car was cleared by the scrutineers. Jack Collins and Branden Templeton later recovered from their penalty to finish in second in class, a lap behind the leaders. Third went to the #74 Innovation Ginetta of Hadley Simpson and Thomas Holland.
The Championship Picture
Going into Brands Hatch, the GT3 drivers' championship has been turned on its head. The winning #63 crew of Rob Collard and Hugo Cook rocketed up to first, bringing the other Barwell car, the #78 of Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski, along with them, leapfrogging the erstwhile leaders Tillbrook and Barnicoat in the #77. Collard and Cook now sit on 122.5 points, 15.5 ahead of Martin and Waberski, and 17 ahead of the unlucky Tillbrook and Barnicoat. With another 37.5 points available in Kent in three weeks time, the championship is still wide open. Accordingly, Barwell also increased their lead in the teams' championship with their 232.5 points 58.5 clear of Optimum and their McLarens.
The GT4 championship is even closer than before, with the #74 crew Thomas Holland and Hadley Simpson level on point with Jack Collins and Branden Templeton of the #24 at 127 points. The leaders coming into the weekend, Will Orton and Jessica Hawkins, sitting 6 points behind them, are still very much in the championship fight. Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner also sit just 10.5 points adrift, more than able to drag themselves up to overall GT4 glory. The teams' championship also sits in a dead heat, with Innovation and Century following suit with the drivers', level on 127. MK Racing and Grange Racing with FSR also sit as far behind as third and fourth in the drivers' respectively.