After the thrills and spills of the Silverstone 500, the British GT Championship heads to Cheshire’s picturesque Oulton Park for the first sprint format races of 2025.
The circuit’s 2.692-mile International layout, with its unforgiving mix of tight, twisty corners and fast crests, offers a sharp contrast to Silverstone’s wide expanses and places a premium on precision.
More is at stake in Rounds 3 and 4 as two one-hour races offer a healthy points haul.
Who will thrive on the undulating Oulton Park circuit this weekend?
Here are some of the key storylines to follow from the 17 GT3s and 8 GT4s on the ENTRY LIST >>
Who can take the fight to 2 Seas Motorsport?
The #42 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG duo of Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss claimed the full 37.5 points from winning the Donington Park opener, from pole position, and narrowly missing out on the win at Silverstone, however, as Paradine Competition is not a full-season contender, they scored maximum points once again.
Despite undertaking a 30 kg ballast for Silverstone, now downsized to 25, they delivered a near-flawless performance to hold a 75-point lead.
They are 30 clear of the #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo pairing of Morgan Tillbrook and Marvin Kirchöfer, who have shown pace during all practice and qualifying sessions so far and have second and fourth-place finishes to show for it.
The McLaren GT3 Evo, of which there are five in the field, demonstrated real potential at Silverstone. However, the #3 Optimum McLaren broke down early, denying Callum Macleod any race time.
With Oulton offering far less in terms of straight-line speed, and tyre management being less of a factor in the shorter races, it will be interesting to see if the hierarchy sports a different look come Monday.
Moreover, Dawson, who stepped up from his success as GT4 Pro-Am champion last year, is a fierce amateur-graded driver, as is Tillbrook. Dawson took pole and won Race 2 last year with Seb Morris, but now the challenge is increased in GT3 competition.
Reigning champion, Rob Collard, who won Race 1 at Oulton Park last year, is one to look out for in the #1 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2. Back in the cockpit at Silverstone after his recent medical absence, Collard will be looking to build momentum with his new teammate, Hugo Cook.
Sprint format shifts pressure on amateurs
During the endurance rounds, the qualifying order is decided by the combined lap time of each of the two drivers, whereas at the sprint meetings, the amateur-graded driver’s lap time assigns the starting place for Race 1, and the other driver for Race 2.
As a result, the amateur driver will have greater responsibility during qualifying and starting the race amidst their fellow graded rivals.
Looking further at GT3 Pro-Am, the #7 Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo duo of four-time champion Jonny Adam and his co-driver Giacomo Petrobelli, are expected to shine here.
Petrobelli was impressive during his opening stint at Silverstone, having unlocked more pace from the only AMR in the GT3 Pro-Am category, so expect them to be in the thick of the fight at Oulton.
Marvin Plowman, former LMP1 and IndyCar racer, and his #8 Paddock Motorsport McLaren team-mate Mark Smith were also amongst those who shone in the ultra-competitive field at Silverstone.
Spirit of Race brought Ferrari back full-time to British GT for the first time in five years with the new #55 296 GT3 driven by seasoned driver pairing Duncan Cameron and his six-time British GT champion teammate Matt Griffin.
They both won at Oulton 15 years ago, in the Ferrari F430 GT3, and will be up for repeating success in Maranello’s newest machine. They carry extra motivation too from Silverstone after Griffin was hit into a gravel trap, effectively turning the race into a test session.
Barwell’s #78 Lamborghini duo, Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell, sit third in the standings just ahead of 2 Seas Motorsport’s other Mercedes-AMG, the #18 of Kevin Tse and Maximilian Götz. Just 1.5 points separates the two exceptionally capable line-ups.
Other key stand-outs in GT3 Pro-Am and Silver-Am
Another former LMP1 and multiple Le Mans 24 Hours competitor, Oliver Webb, will continue his efforts with teammate Andrey Borodin, who pushed their #24 McLaren on Silverstone’s kerbs.
Team Abba Racing and its #8 Mercedes-AMG father-son line-up of Richard and Sam Neary struggled at Silverstone and will look to bounce back here.
Team Parker Racing is finally bringing the 911 GT3.R 992 model to the twists of Oulton. Porsche driver Sven Müller, having won during last weekend’s GT World Challenge Europe meeting at Zandvoort, has yet to race here but brings promise as he and Nick Jones make progress with the only GT3 Porsche on the grid.
Marcus Clutton, who was teammates with Tillbrook last year, takes on the weekend with Simon Orange (#67 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren).
Bridger Motorsport will bring their #86 Honda NSX GT3 Evo2 with Ginetta GT5 champion Luke Garlick, who took two podiums in the Ginetta GT Championship as part of last year’s British GT race meeting.
Jonny Ip, his teammate, will face the new challenge of Oulton under the guidance of Garlick.
The other GT3 Silver-Am competitors, Beechdean Motorsport, are the other Aston Martin on the grid with their #97 drivers Andy Howard and Tom Wood chasing a third straight class win at Oulton.
GT4 Pro-Am leaders tie on points
Both the #90 Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 duo of Marc Warren and reigning champion Jack Brown, and Century Motorsport’s #71 BMW M4 GT4 Evo drivers Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson, have scored exactly 64.5 points through two races.
The #90 crew won the Donington opener as the #71 pairing finished second, and before the finishing positions were flipped at Silverstone.
Both of these line-ups cracked the tyre management code in the longer races to kick off the campaign, but now at Oulton Park, the slightest mistake from either car could result in losing out on points-paying opportunities in both races – as the #71 duo can attest to after being involved in last year’s major multi-car incident in Race 2.
Team Parker Racing’s #30 Mercedes-AMG GT4 drivers Jon Currie and Phil Keen are 24 points further back, though if the other two teams run into issues, then they could seize a timely opportunity with two sets of points to close the gap, if not to possibly gain the lead.
Trio of GT4 Silver cars set to battle
Century’s other #14 BMW driver line-up of Branden Templeton and Chris Salked are leading Silver but reside third in the overall GT4 Drivers’ Standings.
The BMW package is vastly different to the mid-engined McLaren Artura, yet the #14 duo find themselves keen to extend the margin on fellow GT4 Silver class rivals Mahiki Racing and their #84 Lotus Emira GT4 drivers, who are the youngest combined on the grid, Aiden Neate and Josh Miller.
Harry George and Luca Hopkinson of the #17 Optimum McLaren suffered an unfortunate failure at Donington, and are adamant to return to the championship fight, so earning a double-points finish at Oulton could put them in that direction.
Mahiki Racing eager to put down promising form
Since Mahiki Racing stepped up to running three Lotus Emira GT4s for 2025, it’s been a tough ride.
At Donington Park, the #84 – the new third car for this year – performed brilliantly during the opening hour with Neate and went on to collect 15 points, before a suspension issue forced the car into retirement at Silverstone.
Steven Lake in the #69 Lotus also hit trouble last time out, suffering an issue in the pit lane which put an end to their efforts after just one hour. He will seek redemption with Jack Mitchell.
And Ian Duggan and Joe Wheeler in the #88 meanwhile, took seventh last time out at Silverstone following their DNF in round 1.
This feels like a big weekend for the team, coming away with plenty of points and some silverware looks more than possible on paper. Can it deliver?
Track action begins on Saturday, 24 May, with free practice and qualifying sessions, before the late-May Bank Holiday double-header unfolds on Monday.
Race 1 is scheduled for 10:45, with Race 2 to follow at 15:50 local time.
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