Excitement, curiosity and anticipation await the opening round of the 2025 British GT Championship season at Donington Park this weekend.
It all kicks off with a 120-minute race in the East Midlands with 26 entries, 14 in the GT3 category and 12 in GT4.
Will Barwell dominate again?
Besides commencing the first of nine rounds this season, Donington also hosts the final round in October, adding further value to the learning process for the new drivers and repeat British GT season protagonists.
Barwell finished 1-2 in last year’s championship standings, dominating the field with its pair of Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2s.
The question is, can it follow up its tour de force with a worthy encore?
Reigning Drivers’ champion Rob Collard is temporarily replaced by Matt Topham, who claimed back-to-back GT4 Pro-Am titles in 2021 and 2022 (2nd overall in the class) and drove Blackthorn’s Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo last year.
Is the #1 Lamborghini on the backfoot for its title defence? Topham will co-drive with young Hugo Cook – who raced an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 last year – though the pair are in good hands at Barwell Motorsport.
In Barwell’s other #78 Lamborghini, factory driver Sandy Mitchell will drive another season with team-mate Alex Martin. And off the bat, this is a pairing that should be considered a title contender.
Last year at the double-header season-opener at Oulton Park, the #78 duo won the second race after taking pole.
Furthermore, the #78 duo were successful at Donington last year and look to challenge for the win again in this upcoming 2025 opener.
Optimum Motorsport secured three GT3 podium finishes last year, the second of which was at Donington.
Mike Price and Callum Macleod will spend their third consecutive season as teammates, though they are new to the McLaren GT3 Evo.
Most notably, in the other Optimum Motorsport McLaren – the #77 – factory driver Marvin Kirchhöfer is co-driving with Morgan Tillbrook, who is highly familiar with the car after four seasons of experience behind the wheel.
Tillbrook’s best championship finish was third place in 2022, and Kirchhöfer is exactly the capable teammate he needs to return to such contention.
2Seas Motorsport is the third GT3 team with two cars, the #18 and #42 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos.
Mercedes-AMG factory driver Maximilian Götz and teammate Kevin Tse are hoping to produce more consistent results this year.
They won two races in the 2024 season at Spa and Snetterton but struggled in pursuit of top-10 finishes elsewhere.
The #42 sees a new driver pairing come together for this year, with Charles Dawson teaming up with Kiern Jewiss.
Dawson is stepping up from the GT4 category, whilst Jewiss is looking to build on previous GT3 outings.
Last year’s pairing, Phil Keen and Ian Loggie, did not secure any wins but were considerably more consistent than the #18 crew with six top-five finishes, including three podiums – resulting in a fourth-place finish in the standings.
‘Mr British GT’ Jonny Adam will co-pilot the #7 Blackthorn AMR Vantage GT3 Evo with Giacomo Petrobelli in their second season as teammates.
The pair claimed ninth in the first Donington race last year, followed by a second-place finish in the second Donington round later in the season.
Their sights are firmly set on claiming the first British GT victory for the Evo spec Vantage, which was introduced last year.
Blackthorn isn’t the only team with that target. Beechdean Motorsport’s Andrew Howard is looking for a more successful campaign this year with Tom Wood after the team scored just one points finish in six outings last year, though a nine-round schedule will give more opportunities to the #97 Aston Martin duo.
Team Abba Racing’s Richard and Sam Neary finished twice on the podium last year but suffered a disqualification at the second Donington race later in the season.
Their goal will be to land more podium appearances this year in their #8 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, having showcased potential.
Former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and IndyCar driver Martin Plowman is taking on his fourth consecutive season as a teammate to Mark Smith and his sixth as a driver for Paddock Motorsport. The pair scored only three points finishes last year, which resulted in 17th position in the standings.
Greystone GT is one of five teams running the McLaren GT3 EVO package and has enlisted a new driver pairing, 2014 European Le Mans Series champion Oliver Webb and Andrey Borodin.
They are marking their British GT comeback after a one-off appearance at the Spa-Francorchamps round last year and a campaign in GT Open together.
Webb scored the 2024 McLaren Trophy Europe 570S title with Greystone GT and is looking to add to his recent success at Donington Park.
Team Parker Racing is fielding the #66 Porsche 911 GT3.R (992) for its maiden full-season campaign with Porsche drivers Sven Müller and Nick Jones.
Müller and Jones competed as teammates with the car for Team Parker in the Le Mans Cup, a series run by the ACO as part of the ladder for Le Mans prototype and GT sportscar racing. Fourth place in the standings highlighted promising form by the duo at the wheel of the 992 Porsche.
Jones is entering his seventh full-time season with the team and impressed early in his career with an overall win at Donington Park in 2020 during his fourth-ever GT3 race.
At Orange Racing by JMH, Marcus Clutton is well-affiliated with the McLaren package, with three British GT victories in four seasons completed so far. Meanwhile, his co-driver Simon Orange has two GT Cup titles in GT4 and one from 2022 in the GT3 class.
With success to his name contrasted by a poor 2024 British GT season, including three retirements, the #67 McLaren duo are set on finishing more frequently in the top 10.
Finally, in the GT3 category, but not least, national single-seater outfit Bridger Motorsport is making its British GT debut along with its #86 Honda NSX GT3 Evo 22.
Jonny Ip and Luke Garlick are also debuting drivers, so the new programme is looking to build momentum at Doningtonby, gaining further mileage and data in racing conditions.
Unfortunately, the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 GT3 is not on the provisional entry list for this round, so Ferrari’s race entry return to the championship in five years will wait until at least the Silverstone 500.
Endurance Cup adds depth and quality to GT4 field
The big change for the championship’s GT4 class in 2025 is the addition of an Endurance Cup (EC), which has given the field a boost in size with race-by-race entries for the four longer races this season.
Whilst everyone will take on the two-hour racing challenge at Donington, there is even more pressure for the quadrant of EC cars taking on the four longer rounds on the calendar.
These are Team Parker Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT4, Rob Boston Racing’s #41 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS (a switch after testing at Silverstone in a Mercedes-AMG), Jolt Racing’s McLaren Artura and MKH Racing’s Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4.
The Artura has won eight British GT races so far, and the debuting Jolt Racing team is looking to add to that tally with its EC efforts in the hands of #37 McLaren drivers Rupert Williams and John Ingram.
It’s the same story for Optimum Motorsport, which won last year’s GT4 title. Reigning GT4 champions Jack Brown and Zac Meakin claimed victory in the first of last year’s pair of Donington rounds.
This year, Brown is joined by Marc Warren – who finished fourth in last year’s standings for Forsetti Motorsport – for his title defence in the #90 McLaren and Brown’s goal to become the first driver to secure outright GT4 class consecutive titles.
Team Parker Racing has continued with 2017 champion Seb Morris and Ed McDermott for the Endurance Cup only, having finished third in the GT4 standings last year with co-driver Dawson.
Phil Keen drove at 2Seas Motorsport last year but is taking on a GT4 drive with teammate Jon Currie and Team Parker Racing’s second #30 Mercedes-AMG GT4, which is running the full season.
Jamie Orton and Will Burns are piloting the #41 Porsche, which is the sole GT4 representing the Weissach manufacturer.
The FIA World Endurance Championship’s first GTE-Am champion Stuart Hall is entering his first British GT season with a plethora of sportscar racing experience behind him at the illustrious Le Mans racing scene.
Peter Montague joins him in the #50 MKH Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo.
Century Motorsport will front two BMW M4 GT4 Evos at Donington, as sighted at the media day.
Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson are returning to the wheel of the #71 BMW, having gained experience with the updated car in the GT4 Winter Series.
British GB4 graduate Branden Templeton pairs with former GT4 Pro-Am champion Chris Salkeld in the team’s other #14 BMW.
That leaves the head-turning three-pronged Lotus effort from Mahiki Racing with the Emira.
The team brings the youthful pairing of Aiden Neate and a former contender for the GT4 title, Josh Miller, in the team’s new #84 Lotus.
Steven Lake joins Jack Mitchell in the #69 Lotus whilst Ian Duggan takes on the challenge with Joe Wheeler in the #88 Lotus.
Will Mahiki Racing finally score a maiden British GT victory at Donington Park?
Time will tell this weekend, with qualifying on Saturday and the main race on Sunday, both of which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 and the GT World Challenge YouTube channel.
DSC’s coverage of the 2025 British GT Championship is powered by Birch – world class automotive asset management at Gatwick
Image credits: SRO/JEP & Paul Foster
