Martin Plowman believes the decision to reduce the 2026 British GT calendar to six race meetings is a necessary step for the long-term viability of the SRO-run championship.
Next year’s new-look schedule differs from 2025’s in that Donington Park will no longer host two rounds. Instead, the championship will visit the East Midlands circuit just once, on September 5th-6th.
The 2013 FIA WEC LMP2 champion and Le Mans class winner is now in his 10th season competing in British GT and fifth as Paddock Motorsport’s founder and team principal.
“I feel that it was quite necessary to cut back a race to go to six events,” he told DSC. “And yes, it doesn’t really save budget in terms of cost per race.
“The cost per race is the same, but it helps bring back the overall operating budget into a window that is more affordable by the average gentleman driver.
“The trouble is, the costs (fuel, staff costs, hotels, etc.) keep going up, and it’s getting to the point where it isn’t sustainable.
“Cutting back a race at least brings it back into a window where people will consider committing to a full season.”
Both the GT3 and GT4 classes saw a slight reduction in numbers for this year’s season, including the loss of Paddock Motorsport’s Mercedes-AMG and McLaren Artura GT4, which featured in 2024.
The recent sprint Rounds 6 and 7 at Snetterton featured a marginally reduced grid compared to the full-season count, too, with Greystone GT and Team Abba Racing absent.
Paddock Motorsport’s other motorsport programmes include the GT Cup Championship — where Plowman’s British GT teammate Mark Smith leads the standings — and the McLaren Trophy Europe series.
While financial prudence remains a priority, Plowman also reflected on the team’s recent form with Paddock Motorsport’s #9 McLaren GT3 EVO as evidence of progress behind the scenes.
“I feel like we have certainly made progress as a team,” he said about their British GT effort. “Everything from the foundation and how we work the processes, we are a lot stronger.
“However, I don’t feel that we always have the results to show for that progress. It feels like we’re operating at a better level. We’ve closed the gap quite a lot to the very top teams. Crucially, we’re a lot more consistent in how we operate now.
“Snetterton was probably the first time that we capitalised on our performance when Mark (Smith) qualified fifth and we managed to bring it home. And there were other times at Silverstone when we were consistently inside the top six on pace, and we opted for quite an aggressive strategy.
“At one point in the race, we were looking very strong for a podium or even better and then unfortunately, the safety car came in the very next lap, and it destroyed our strategy.
“So we were no more than a minute away from pulling off a really strong result. But small moments, small margins of error have cost us [across different races].”
Paddock Motorsport has finished outside the points just once this season, with a string of consistent top-ten results in seventh, eighth, and ninth.
That consistency began to pay off during British GT’s recent visit to Snetterton with fifth position in the first race, followed by ninth in the second.
Plowman attributed their competitive Snetterton form to drastic overnight changes.
“The team very quickly got to the root cause of the balance issues and the lack of grip, analysed the data, and made some pretty wholesale changes to the car.
“We’re not just talking a few clicks or a roll bar tweak — we made big overnight geometry changes.
“Rolled the dice with it into Saturday, and thankfully it was the right decision. So we spent Saturday refining the balance again with the new geometry setup.
“In the pro [qualifying] session, the result wasn’t what we were hoping for, but as you know, it’s so close, the gaps between pole and last.
“And I felt that I had two tenths in myself that I could have improved on, three or four tenths would be a difference between where we were in P10, and being P3 or P4.”
Plowman was also full of praise for his American co-driver Smith, who continues to improve and is enjoying his fourth British GT season.
“He’s been very impressive, for a lot of people who realise just how inexperienced he is [compared to other Ams]. So when we say that he’s jumped into the deep end, we truly mean that he has jumped into the deep end,” Plowman said.
“Not only into a GT3 car, but into arguably one of the most competitive domestic championships in the world, where you’ve got your factory drivers – Kirchhöfer and Götz – and all these top drivers.
“So even to be on the same page as Kevin Tse and [Giacomo] Petrobelli in only three and a half years of [GT3] racing is incredible.
“He’s very technically astute with the background that he has. But this year, I think the difference is he’s a lot more relaxed. I feel like he knows the environment now, and he’s bringing more of his true self. There’s a certain confidence in his ability now that’s coming out.
“He’s putting into action what he’s learned for the last few years, and he’s starting to get his elbows out more now, and he seems to be having fun with it, and it’s showing on track.”
Plowman also warned against obsessing over results, urging his team to “keep the faith and trust the process” in such a competitive environment.
Two meetings remain in the 2025 British GT campaign at Brands Hatch and Donington Park.
At these two endurance races, Paddock Motorsport has a real chance to build on its season-best finish as the GT3 title battle intensifies around it.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
