Century Motorsport drivers Jonathon Beeson and Charles Clark claimed their first pole position together at Donington Park for British GT’s penultimate round of the 2026 season.
Beeson secured third in the Q1 session before Clark carried out his lap in Q2 and secured pole position with their combined time of 2:52.081.
It marks the first pole position for the 2023 GT3 Teams’ champions since they returned to the GT3 category this year, after a hiatus in 2025, and their first in the GT3 Silver-Am category.
They were only 0.066 seconds ahead of the #63 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Rob Collard and Hugo Cook.
“The car felt good,” said Beeson.
“First time with new tyres since yesterday and today it all came together. “It was a bit nip and tuck there,” added Clark.
“On a couple of new sets [of tyres] in the last couple of days, we found that pushing on the out-lap has really helped. “So when you come to that first and second flat-out, the tyres are in [their operation window].
“It’s just about trying to get results where we can. It’s quite difficult as the only BMW in the GT3, so some tracks really suit us and some tracks don’t. “This is the track that suits us. We’ve got to make the most of it.”
Barwell Motorsport’s #78 Lamborghini drivers Alex Martin and Rob Collard secured third on the grid with a combined time of 2:52.394.
Optimum Motorsport’s #90 McLaren performed strongly, with Marc Warren leading in Q1 before Jack Brown finished fourth, achieving a time of 2:52.425.
Championship leaders Ben Barnicoat and Morgan Tillbrook qualified fifth in the #77 Optimum McLaren with a 2:52.461 ahead of 2 Seas’s #18 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Chris Lulham and Kevin Tse (2:52.588).
The other #15 2 Seas Mercedes took seventh, with credit to Aaron Walker and reigning champion Charles Dawson’s combined 2:52.995 lap time.
Orange Racing by JMH’s #67 McLaren pairing Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton took eighth place (2:53.097), followed by the #7 Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Andrew Howard and factory driver Ross Gunn (2:53.838).
Rodin Motorsport took 10th with Josh Buchan and Cameron Campbell’s 2:53.993 lap time in the #13 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, as the #3 Optimum McLaren rounded out the GT3 field with Mike Price and Callum Macleod’s 2:54.592 lap time.
Innovation Wins Pole Fight With Fellow Ginetta Customer Toro Verde GT
In the GT4 class, the Ginetta customer teams Toro Verde GT and Innovation Racing competed fiercely for pole position, with the #74 Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo emerging victorious.
Hadley Simpson’s strong performance in Q3 beat Josh Stanton’s #59 Optimum McLaren Artura GT4 by over half a second, before his teammate Thomas Holland’s Q4 effort denied his fellow #42 Toro Verde GT Ginetta the pole spot.
After his teammate Luke Shaw’s lap, Mitchell contended for the pole honours and, despite being unable to beat Innovation to pole, went quickest in the GT4 Pro-Am class.
Ginetta machinery showed impressive qualifying performance, securing two of the three entries on the front row for tomorrow’s race.
“We basically did fairly similar to what we did at Silverstone, but this time he [Hadley Simpson] had to do the heavy lifting to build the gap,” said Holland. “The team’s done a brilliant job; the car has been absolutely mega.
“Hadley’s lap was honestly bonkers. I was watching it going through, and I was cheering him on, as well as the other two boys in the #5 car. They’ve also done pretty well for a first-timer in British GT qualifying.”
Innovation Racing’s championship-contending #74 pairing of Simpson/Holland set a combined lap time of 3:07.008, with Shaw/Mitchell only 0.064 seconds behind with a 3:07.072.
Paddock Motorsport took third in the #84 McLaren after Blake Angliss and Revie Lake drove a combined time of 3:07.911, putting them ahead of the #27 Grange Racing by FSR Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo of Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner (3:07.972).
MK Racing, who lead the championship by only 1.5 seconds over Innovation’s #74 Ginetta crew, qualified fifth with Will Orton and Jessica Hawkins’s attempt resulting in a combined lap time of 3:08.142.
Optimum Motorsport #59 McLaren drivers Stanton and George Gamble took sixth (3:08.278), followed by the #24 Century BMW M4 GT4 Evo of Jack Collins and Branden Templeton (3:08.494).
In eighth place were Innovation Racing’s #5 Ginetta of teenage debutants Samuel Branston and James Wareing (3:08.539), ahead of the #61 West Surrey Racing BMW of four-time BTCC champion Colin Turkington and Ernie Graham (3:09.864).
Jordan Collard, making his first British GT appearance in four years, and his teammate John Hartshorne were 10th in the #97 GBR Stratton Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo (3:10.872) and the #40 Fox Motorsport Aston Martin of
The #8 Toro Verde Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS did not participate in qualifying whilst undergoing an engine change off-site and is expected to return and start tomorrow’s race, with the morning warm-up session offering a crucial opportunity to turn shakedown laps.
Tomorrow’s 2-hour race will commence at 13:30 local time.
Pictures: SRO/Ebrey & Paul Foster
