Ben Barnicoat has joined Optimum Motorsport for the full 2026 British GT Championship season and will partner up with Morgan Tillbrook.
The 29-year-old Briton replaces McLaren factory driver Marvin Kirchhöfer in the team’s #77 McLaren GT3 Evo, which was in championship contention throughout last year.
He is recognised as a Lexus factory driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship; however, Barnicoat is highly familiar with Woking’s GT machinery from his time as one of its factory drivers.
Barnicoat won the 2023 IMSA GTD Pro class title alongside Jack Hawksworth, with whom he is currently teamed up for the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech season.
Subsequently, he will dovetail his first full-season campaign in British GT with its commitments in IMSA this year.
Ready to contest the GT3 Pro-Am class, Barnicoat said: “I’m really excited to be competing in British GT this year alongside Morgan with Optimum Motorsport.
“Morgan’s a proven force in this series, and I’ve already had success with this team, so I’m confident we can have further success together in 2026.”
The season-opening Silverstone 500 on 25-26 April will mark Barnicoat’s first British GT appearance since his only GT3 class start at the 2023 event with Brendon Iribe and his Inception Racing banner.
Since contesting all but two races in 2018 in a McLaren 570S GT4 car, this news confirms Barnicoat’s first full campaign in one of Europe’s most respected domestic GT racing championships.
Optimum’s #77 crew scored three podiums last year and only failed to score points when they retired at the Donington Decider, so Barnicoat and Tillbrook will be optimistic that they have a chance to achieve British GT championship glory.
Media Day testing at Silverstone takes place on 31 March, before British GT returns to the venue in April for its blue riband three-hour enduro.
