The British GT paddock has arrived in mainland Europe for its one-off trip outside the UK and set up at the historic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the second three-hour enduro this year after the Silverstone 500.
Also known as ‘Spa Speedweek’, British GT will be one of three SRO series roaring away in the Ardennes Forest as a precursor to the following week’s 24 Hours of Spa.
Championnat de France’s FFSA GT and TC offers sprint race action – on top of Porsche Carrera Cup, Formula 4 and Mitjet – meanwhile British GT hosts a 180-minute endurance race opening up strategy for the 24 entries after the two sprint races last time out at Oulton Park.
Just over seven kilometres of high-speed, challenging tarmac awaits for Round 5 Who will rise above the competition?
2 Seas Motorsport against Optimum Motorsport in GT3 title race
So far this season, the #42 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo pairing of Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss has commanded the championship standings after two consecutive GT3 Pro-Am victories.
The second of those came at the Silverstone 500, the previous three-hour race, where they were on course for an overall win against the 2023 champions, in their Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3 Evo guest entry, before Jewiss was hindered with a drive-through penalty and was tasked with chasing down Dan Harper.
Despite scoring nil points in Oulton Park’s second race, and just two points from Race 1, it was still enough to retain their lead heading into Spa.
Moreover, Oulton Park saw the other 2 Seas #18 Mercedes-AMG drivers, Kevin Tse and works driver Maximilian Götz, shine at the rain-soaked venue with second and first-placed finishes. After winning last year’s Spa event, a back-to-back win will only further their chances for the title fight against the sister Mercedes and the #77 McLaren.
Optimum Motorsport’s #77 McLaren GT3 Evo duo of Morgan Tillbrook and Marvin Kirchhöfer trail the leaders in the #42 by 18 points, and Spa, like Silverstone, should play into their hands at a circuit suited to the strengths of the McLaren package.
Other GT3 Pro-Ams ready to challenge 2 Seas
Blackthorn thrived at the narrow, twisty Oulton Park despite Giacomo Petrobelli’s two off-track moments owing to the venue’s little margin for driver error.
These incidents were not during qualifying or the races, so along with his four-time champion team-mate Jonny Adam, they performed strongly and now head to Spa on a positive wave of momentum, after taking points for top-three finishes at Silverstone and Oulton Park.
Elsewhere in GT3 Pro-Am, Optimum Motorsport’s #3 McLaren driver Callum MacLeod is seeking his moment of fame following a challenging first half to the 2025 season, which featured a retirement at Silverstone after his previous co-driver Mark Price ground to a halt after just 40 minutes of green flag running.
Redemption at the only other three-hour race is on the cards for MacLeod and the #3 McLaren. However, he will race with a new teammate this weekend, as Matt Topham is in for Price.
Barwell Motorsport put its Silverstone 500 woes behind it with a promising Oulton Park showing that included a victory in Race 1, though you’d expect there’s still plenty more to come from the #1 and #78 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2s.
In terms of drivers, Rob Collard in the #1 will have half an eye on his bid to win the Spa 24 with his son Ricky next week. And Squadra Corse factory driver and team regular Patrick Kujala is back in the team’s #78 Lamborghini, replacing his works counterpart Sandy Mitchell, and is keen to utilise this second chance at race victory.
Spirit of Race’s #55 Ferrari 296 GT3 drivers Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron eye out for a competitive outing at Spa, as Greystone GT’s #24 McLaren drivers Oliver Webb and Andrey Borodin did not participate at Oulton after Borodin endured an injury from polo.
Paddock Motorsport’s #9 McLaren drivers Martin Plowman and Mark Smith were in the heart of the racing action at Oulton, so further progress is on the horizon at Spa in their fourth British GT season together.
Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton, #67 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren drivers, scored second place in Round 4 after beating the #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX GT3 EVO2 to the finishing line, but expect the challenge to be far tougher at Spa.
Father-son pairing Richard and Sam Neary look towards unlocking the potential of their #8 Team Abba Racing Mercedes-AMG at Spa.
Team Parker Racing was expected to field Harry King, replacing Sven Müller with team-mate Nick Jones in the #66 Porsche 911 GT3.R, but they will not compete at Spa.
In the Silver-Am fight between the #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX GT3 EVO2 of Jonny Ip and Jay Bridger (in for Luke Garlick), and the #97 Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of drivers Andy Howard and Tom Wood resumes. Full season driver Ip has a seven-point lead after his overall podium in the Bridger Honda at Oulton.
Mahiki’s big switch for Spa: Lotus to Ginetta
One key talking point in the GT4 category has been the switch for the Mahiki Racing team in that, instead of the trio of Lotus Emira GT4s, they have three Ginetta G56 GT4 Evos.
Ginetta was represented last year at Spa by CWS Engineering and DTO Motorsport, with DTO securing a best race finish of eighth in the GT4 classification.
Mahiki Racing has been denied at least two victories this year – headlined by a wheel hub failure at Silverstone while holding the lead with the #84 Lotus of drivers Aiden Neate and Josh Miller, and then mechanical woes at Oulton Park.
DSC has reached out to Mahiki Racing to gain further information behind this decision for Spa-Francorchamps, where the team will field its new cars for the first time.
Mahiki Racing’s reserve driver, Blake Angeliss, makes his return to the British GT grid since last year when he drove in Paddock Motorsport’s #11 McLaren Artura GT4.
The former Ginetta GT4 SuperCup vice-champion replaces Jack Mitchell in the #69 Ginetta, who is pairing up with Miller in the #84 in place of Aiden Neate.
Meanwhile, the #88 Ginetta line-up is unchanged with Ian Duggan and Joe Wheeler heading to Belgium.
Optimum vs Century in GT4 title fight
Century Motorsport’s #71 BMW M4 GT4 Evo took a hit, literally, in the first of two races at Oulton Park, which rendered the car unable to take on the second race.
Ravi Ramyead was in the lead until a spin after running wide into the Island Hairpin resulted in head-on contact with the barrier.
This moment proved advantageous to #90 Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 drivers Marc Warren and reigning GT4 champion Jack Brown, who were tied on exactly 64.5 points.
Ahead of Spa, the #90 McLaren pairing leads by an immense 50-point margin (on 114.5) as the #71 BMW drivers look to reset and put together productive outing to get their season back on track.
In the GT4 Silver-Cup, Century’s other #14 BMW drivers, Branden Templeton and Chris Salkeld, lead on 107.5 points on the #17 Optimum McLaren drivers Harry George and Luca Hopkinson, who are on 70.
GT4 Endurance Cup stars return for penultimate round
Following the Donington Park opener and the Silverstone 500, the GT4 Endurance Cup competitors return after British GT went to Oulton Park, a sprint race meeting.
Spa marks the penultimate Endurance Cup round with a return to Donington at the end of the season on 4-5 October.
There are four Endurance Cup competitors, though only two will compete at Spa: The #12 Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 drivers Ed McDermott and Seb Morris, and Rob Boston Racing’s #41 Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS CS drivers Jamie Orton and Will Burns.
MHK Racing’s #50 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo and the #37 Jolt Racing McLaren Artura are absent.
The #12 and the #41 cars tie on 64.5 points in the Endurance Cup standings, so Spa will be a pivotal race before the Donington decider.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
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