Optimum Motorsport’s Garnet Patterson and Yasser Shahin claimed a dramatic victory in a caution-disrupted Silverstone 500, using sharp strategy and late-race track position to steer the #3 McLaren GT3 Evo from ninth on the grid to the top step.
The Australian pairing seized control in the final hour after perfectly timing their last pit stop under a late Full Course Yellow, allowing Patterson to reset his stint and emerge ahead of the frontrunners who had stopped under green.
From there, he controlled the seven-minute sprint to the flag to secure an unlikely win on the crew’s first outing together at the event.
“That wasn’t on the bingo card this morning,” said Patterson. “Starting ninth, we weren’t in the best position, but in endurance racing, anything can happen.”
Shahin, racing both at Silverstone and in a McLaren for the first time, added: “It was awesome.
“Absolute team effort. Great engineering calls. We settled into a no-risk strategy, and it paid off.”
For much of the three-hour contest, it was the #91 Paradine-run BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Darren Leung and Dan Harper that controlled proceedings from pole, leading the opening two hours with authority.
However, the race turned in the final half-hour when Duncan Cameron spun the #55 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 at Abbey, beaching his rear wheels in the gravel and triggering a late caution period.
That intervention proved decisive, as while the leading BMW was forced to complete its final stop under green, the #3 Optimum McLaren pitted under caution, gaining track position and effectively deciding the race.
Patterson held firm at the restart and edged clear to take the win, with Century Motorsport’s Charles Clark and Jonathon Beeson finishing second in the #44 BMW. As a full-season entry, they secured maximum championship points despite being beaten on the road by the guest McLaren.
Harper and Leung recovered to complete the podium after losing out strategically.
The race was littered with incidents that eliminated or delayed several key contenders. 2 Seas Motorsport endured a chaotic start when Kevin Tse’s #18 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo collided with teammate Charles Dawson in the #1 car, leaving the #18 stranded in the gravel.
The reigning champion pairing of Dawson and Kiern Jewiss later encountered alternator issues and ultimately retired.
Barwell Motorsport also saw its chances unravel dramatically. While the #55 car’s late spin triggered the decisive caution, the sister #63 Lamborghini, running as high as second, was eliminated when it caught fire shortly after Rob Collard took over, forcing his immediate retirement at Village Corner.
Optimum’s sister #77 McLaren looked like a genuine contender on pace alone, with Ben Barnicoat setting the fastest laps and climbing as high as second. However, a marginally short pit stop incurred a 1-second stop-and-go penalty, dropping the car out of contention.
Behind the leading trio, Marcus Clutton brought the #67 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren home fourth, improving on the team’s result from last year.
SRO GT Academy driver Jarrod Waberski impressed on his British GT debut, finishing fifth in the #78 Barwell Lamborghini alongside Alex Martin, making it the best-placed car from the squad.
Ross Gunn and Andrew Howard delivered a strong recovery drive to finish sixth in the #7 Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo, having climbed as high as third during the opening stint.
The #15 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG of Aaron Walker and Andrew Gilbert ran a quiet and clean race to eighth, followed by the #9 Paddock Motorsport McLaren and the #69 Mahiki Racing entry, which completed the top ten.
Further retirements included the #13 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Rodin Motorsport after Cameron Campbell collided with GT4 traffic, sustaining significant damage to his rear-left wheel and stopping him in his tracks after spinning multiple times.
GT4 honours went to Innovation Racing, which converted pole position into a breakthrough Silverstone 500 victory on debut with Hadley Simpson and Thomas Holland aboard the #74 Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo.
In a composed and mistake-free run, the duo maintained track position throughout and held off sustained late pressure to secure a memorable win for the small, independent outfit.
The #21 MK Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo of Will Orton and Jessica Hawkins pushed hard in the closing stages, with Hawkins reducing the gap to just 1.290 seconds at the flag but unable to find a way past.
“I did everything I could to get close enough to make a move,” Hawkins told DSC. “Procedurally, we were very strong. No mistakes, clean pit stops, but we just didn’t quite have the pace.”
Innovation Racing team owner Simon Griffiths hailed the result as a landmark moment:
“To come here and win on our first attempt — I’m not sure it’s been done before. For a small, close-knit team like ours, I couldn’t ask for more. This is just the beginning.”
Optimum Motorsport added a GT4 podium to its GT3 victory, with Josh Stanton and Luca Hopkinson finishing third in the #59 McLaren Artura GT4, marking Stanton’s maiden podium in the series.
The team started from fifth in the GT4 order, watching the lead fight unfold in front of them between the #74 Innovation and #42 Toro Verde GT Ginettas, and MK Racing’s #21 Aston Martin.
Four-time BTCC champion Colin Turkington enjoyed his first British GT stint at the wheel of their West Surrey Racing #61 BMW M4 GT4 Evo, having caught up to Stanton and wrestled past him to push into the top-five group.
Century Motorsport’s #24 BMW M4 GT4 Evo of Branden Templeton and Jack Collins finished fourth, escaping a tense clash at Brooklands.
Fighting as a trio, the #24 of Collins avoided major contact when attacking the #27 Grange Racing by FSR Aston Martin of Darren Turner.
The AMR factory driver made contact with the #84 Mahiki McLaren of Revie Lake, who, after losing a door mirror on the previous lap, was unable to monitor Turner behind him.
Consequently, the #27 Aston Martin and #84 McLaren drivers were forced to stop and retire, whilst the #24 Century BMW continued.
Jack Mitchell and his teammate Luke Shaw secured fifth in the #42 Toro Verde Ginetta, the highest of the GT4 Pro-Am runners.
Ronan Pearson and John Hartshorne’s #97 GBR Stratton Aston Martin claimed sixth, following a race where they twice earned drive-through penalties for full-course-yellow speed infringements.
WSR’s #61 BMW finished in seventh with Turkington and Ernie Graham having fought amid the intense GT4 competition on their British GT debut, rounding out the top three in GT4 Pro-Am.
The Toro Verde GT #8 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS of Ian Duggan and Tom Bradshaw finished eighth.
Whilst James Townsend struggled with braking issues in his #40 Townsend Racing by Fox Motorsport Aston Martin, he escaped a sticky situation with the gravel trap at Abbey Corner, but finished last in the field with his teammate Joe Wheeler.
Images courtesy of Paul Foster, SRO/JEP
