Paddock Motorsport face closest opportunity for maiden win
Paddock Motorsport took its first Pro-Am podium of the year in Oulton Park’s Race 1 and is not only pushing for its first outright GT3 podium, but also its maiden win.
Mark Smith carried out his best British GT qualifying performance, securing a second-row start in the #9 McLaren GT3 Evo for the first sprint race.
His opening stint will play a crucial part in Paddock Motorsport’s closest chance in their six seasons in the championship so far to score victory.
Smith thoroughly enjoys Snetterton and secured two of the three wins last year in the GT Cup UK Championship, but knows that the strong field of Amateur- and Professional-graded drivers in British GT will make his and teammate Martin Plowman’s pursuit a hard-fought one.
“You look across the field, and you’ve got factory drivers, you’ve got Ams that have competed in Le Mans,” Smith told DSC.
“You’ve got a really, really high standard, and that’s what I want to be comparing myself against, and that’s what I want to be aspiring to.
“That’s why we’re here, so when we’re able to compete and find ourselves on the podium, it’s very rewarding.
“It’s not like you show up where you’re already ahead of your competition just because you’ve got more experience or because of some other reason.
“This is real high-quality competition, and we enjoy testing ourselves against that.
“We’ve got to be able to bring our setup to different tracks, so we’ve got a really good setup for Snetterton, but we need to be able to get that car behaving like this at Donington Park and Brands Hatch.”
Factory drivers Adam & Macdonald called up late
Aston Martin factory driver Jonny Adam and McLaren factory driver Dean Macdonald were drafted in as late changes to the entry list.
Adam is a four-time British GT champion and became the championship’s most successful driver following his 20th career victory at Spa-Francorchamps last year during his full-season GT3 campaign with Blackthorn.
Macdonald joined Steven Lake in the #69 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren, making his first British GT appearance in six years.
Adam replaces Ronan Pearson this weekend and is teamed with John Hartshorne in the #97 GBR Stratton Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo — a team founded and run by Adam’s father-in-law, Graham Brunton, and his son-in-law Craig.
“I didn’t know much about the opportunity until Thursday at 5 o’clock,” said Adam.
“I was doing the nursery run and then a call from the father-in-law to say ‘Bring your kit’ rather than just ‘Bring your rucksack’ because I’m here coaching anyway with these guys.
“Ronan’s not been that well this week, and we didn’t know if he was going to be ready or not in time.
“I was available; I can only do this round because I’ve got two clashes for the last two, and hopefully Ronan will be back for that.
“It’s my first time in GT4 in British GT, and this is my 125th and 126th races.
“The last time I drove with these guys was 17 years ago doing the Walter Hayes Trophy.
“We’re here just to make sure the car is out there on the grid.
“We’ll see what we can do, but more importantly it’s a fun weekend; we’re all going to enjoy having a nice weekend here.”
Adam has driven Aston Martin’s latest GT4 car on test days but never during a race meeting.
He joins a close friend and another Aston Martin factory driver, Darren Turner, in the GT4 field, who starts just behind him for Race 2.
Adam and Turner shared a Le Mans 24 Hours GTE-Pro class victory in 2017 and have rarely had the opportunity to race door-to-door with each other until today.
Gamble joins Optimum GT4 for remainder of season
Former BTCC racer George Gamble has made an unexpected return to the British GT Championship with his only appearance at Rockingham in 2017.
He shares the #59 Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 Silver Cup entrant for the remainder of the 2026 season with Josh Stanton, who fought for victory at a hectic Spa-Francorchamps two months ago.
“Hopefully we can help these guys compete at the sharp end of the championship,” he said.
Optimum Motorsport have previously worked with his younger brother Tom in their GT endurance campaigns in the Asian Le Mans Series and British GT.
The opportunity arose for George, who was considering taking on British GT after contesting the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain for the past two years, successfully winning the 2024 Pro title.
“I’m so used to Porsches, so it’s a bit of a different feel (in the mid-engined McLaren), but we’re looking good.
“I like the level of competition here; it’s one of the top racing championships in the UK, and touring car racing can be a bit all over the shop.
“So it’s quite nice to be in something so competitive as this.
“Trying to get used to [the pit stops] now, so doing a bit of practising.
“This weekend might be a bit of a learning curve and then ready for next when we can go full attack without any penalties and stuff.”
Holland targets consistency to retain Innovation’s championship lead
Innovation Racing has impressed in its first-ever British GT season, leading the overall GT4 championship heading into this weekend’s Snetterton sprint event, ahead of the the #21 MK Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo of Will Orton and Jessica Hawkins.
After finishing sixth at Spa, Thomas Holland and Hadley Simpson go into the first sprint race without any pit compensation time in the #74 Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo and start from second.
“Hadley’s got a nice summer tan on, so hopefully that’s made him a bit quicker,” Holland quipped.
“We’ve had a summer break now; we’re a bit refreshed.
“The championship is really tight. It is four cars within 11 points, and we’re only leading by about 1.5.
“With no success penalty for Race 1, we’re going to try and maximise points as much as we can this weekend and build a bit of a gap.
“Ideally, if we’re able to come away winning every round for the rest of the year, that would be a dream fairy tale, but we know that’s not going to happen because of how competitive British GT has been this year.
“So our main goal is just to maximise points, stay in front of as many people as we possibly can because that’s going to be the best way to win the title.”
Holland conceded to Friday’s challenging hot and humid conditions, describing the cockpit of his #74 Ginetta as a ‘furnace’ before overnight rainfall and cloud cover brought cooler conditions on Saturday and into Sunday, making it more manageable.
Beeson ‘relaxed’ in maiden GT3 season with Century
Defending Porsche Carrera Cup GB Am champion Jonathon Beeson has been soaking up his first season in a GT3 car, specifically Century Motorsport’s #44 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
Century returned to the category this year with SRO GT Academy driver Charles Clark joining Beeson, who has progressed since he started his racing career four years ago.
“There’s a massive difference between the BMW and the Cayman and then the Cup car,” said Beeson.
“With the downforce, this thing is a different kettle of fish.
“[Lapping these GT4s] is definitely something you’ve got to learn because I was at the back in the Carrera Cup.
“It’s definitely a new skill that you’ve got to manage in the races. I think we’ve been trying to find the setup that works for it.
“We’re definitely a bit tricky around the corners, and it’s a big lump of a car compared to the Lambos and others, so we’re just doing the best with it.
“I’m probably one of the least experienced people on the grid, so we’ve got to enjoy it and do our best and see where we come really.
“I think I’m managing it okay. I’m fairly relaxed and just get on with it, enjoy it, do what we can do and see where we end up.”
Tse ponders difficult campaign as he seeks first season win with 2 Seas
Kevin Tse in the #18 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo reflected candidly on a difficult 2026 season so far, but is keen as ever to take his first win of the year.
Since his first-corner accident at Silverstone, he has yet to take the spotlight at the front of the field with his new teammate Ben Green.
Last year was his strongest ever British GT campaign with teammate Maximilian Götz, amassing two wins and seven podium finishes.
“It’s a bit disappointing,” Tse summarised. “I made some mistakes throughout the beginning of the season, so we are far, far down in the championship standings.
“We’re working very hard race by race so hopefully we’ll get some good results.”
Tse and Green were denied their first provisional pole position together at Spa-Francorchamps last time out after breaching track limits.
The Hong Kong-Macanese driver explained why qualifying was so important at Snetterton.
“It’s a little circuit, but there are 12 corners, so it’s hard to nail a good qualifying lap.
“We put a lot of emphasis on qualifying because in a sprint race, Snetterton is very hard to pass on.
“The sprint races are only one hour each, so you cannot make up places as easily as the other bigger, longer tracks like Silverstone or Spa.”
Tse starts the opening race from seventh on the grid whilst Green starts slightly higher in fifth in the second sprint.
Buchan surprised by best qualifying performance for Rodin
Three-time TCR Australia champion Josh Buchan delivered the team’s strongest qualifying result in their ongoing debut British GT campaign with a second-row, fourth-place start for Race 2 — their first GT3 Silver-Am pole position.
Much to his surprise, and impressively having never visited Snetterton or indeed any of the British circuits, he set a 1:46.197 lap time from his #13 Rodin Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.
“We tested last week with everyone, and I genuinely think we were over a second off the pace,” Buchan admitted.
“After where our car was at Spa, we worked extremely hard and came back with a different philosophy.
“We committed to it, still had dramas and then just persevered throughout practice yesterday and today and got the car somewhere we thought it’d be competitive.
“Our BoP isn’t the strongest, and that’s fine because we’re having a good run at it, but I think we maximised the package that we had.”
Having dual Ferrari GT racing commitments with Cameron Campbell this year, the Australian reminisced about the comparably more aggressive driving style in touring cars compared to GT3.
“This sounds silly, but I do miss the fact that you can smash into blokes in touring cars and get smashed back.
“More to the point with these GT3s, qualifying is so crucial; it’s why we put such an emphasis on it.”
Waberski tops morning warm-up for Barwell Motorsport
Jarrod Waberski was fastest in the 15-minute warm-up session in the #78 Barwell Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, which endured damage in yesterday’s qualifying session.
His teammate Alex Martin spun twice during warm-up, indicating that despite the repair job for the #78 Barwell Lamborghini, the team are nursing difficulties with that car.
Waberski’s 1:48.728 put him ahead of Charles Clark’s #44 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO (1:48.783) as Jack Brown rounded out the top three in the #90 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo (1:48.791).
Aaron Walker finished fourth in the #15 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (1:49.082) ahead of the other #18 2 Seas Mercedes of Ben Green (1:49.861).
In the GT4 category, Paddock Motorsport’s #84 McLaren Artura GT4 was quickest owing to Blake Angliss’s 1:57.275.
Optimum’s #59 McLaren of George Gamble was second after his fastest time of 1:57.745, ahead of Branden Templeton’s #14 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 Evo with his 1:58.129.
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Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
