British GT Championship organiser SRO Motorsports Group has unveiled a two-tier driver grading system to “address the influx of younger or more experienced FIA Bronze-graded drivers”, and confirmed the Spa and Donington Park rounds will each last 120 minutes.
Drivers may be categorised as ‘Bronze Plus’ if they satisfy one or more of SRO’s extensive criteria.
It will typically apply, but is not limited to, Bronze drivers aged under 40. Other considerations include whether their current status is set to provisional by the FIA grading committee, whether they have raced extensively in their 20s, or whether they have been recently downgraded from Silver.
A longer pit compensation time and an additional 25 kg ballast will be applied to GT3 Pro-Am or Silver-Am crews who field a ‘Bronze Plus’ driver to ensure fairer competition.
Potential Bronze Plus candidates may appeal their classification to a new SRO Teams Committee, composed of several longstanding figures from British GT.
“The nature of customer GT racing has evolved significantly over the last decade, but maintaining a balanced environment that allows amateurs of varying ability and age to compete equally remains a vital component of the sport,” the SRO explained in its news release.
“British GT is therefore taking proactive action by introducing a two-tier grading system that accounts for the influx of younger or experienced FIA Bronze-graded drivers.”
Elsewhere, GT4 Silver entrants will no longer carry any additional weight ballast, and the extra pit stop handicap time has been removed. Instead, the Pro-Am and Silver classes will be balanced by the latter’s longer Pitstop Compensation Time, which is only applied to the previous race’s overall podium finishers.
Lauren Granville, British GT Championship Manager, said: “The ideas we’re implementing ahead of 2026 stem from extensive consultation with our existing teams up and down the paddock.
“During that process, it became very apparent that some sweeping changes designed to help one class can impact negatively on another, so we’ve had to think very carefully about where problems originate and how best to solve them.
“The result is marginal gains over shock tactics, which I am confident will help restore the level of participation British GT has been accustomed to in recent years.
“Initial feedback has certainly been positive, and I am quietly confident of what next year will bring.”
SRO announced the 2026 calendar on July 2 during a press conference at the 78th 24 Hours of Spa, confirming four sprint and four endurance races to eight in total.
The Spa round has been officially reduced from three hours to two hours as a cost-saving measure, leaving the Silverstone 500 as the sole three-hour race to begin the 2026 campaign on April 25-26.
Silverstone again hosts the media day on 31 March, too, as the race at Donington is confirmed as a two-hour endurance race.
The GT4 Endurance Cup will return for its second season at four of the six race venues on the 2026 calendar.
They will visit Brands Hatch for the final round of the season on September 26-27, as Donington does not appear twice like it did in 2025.
The 2026 entry process opens on 1 December next month and is again capped at 34 cars.
Updated 2026 British GT Championship calendar
- 31 March, Media Day, Silverstone GP
- 25/26 April, Silverstone 500*, 1x 3-hour
- 23/25 May, Oulton Park, 2x 1-hour
- 20/21 June, Spa-Francorchamps*, 1x 2-hour
- 15/16 August, Snetterton, 2x 1-hour
- 5/6 September, Donington Park*, 1x 2-hour
- 26/27 September, Brands Hatch*, 1x 2-hour
*GT4 Endurance Cup events
