The exciting penultimate Round 7 of the 2026 British GT Championship dramatically reshuffled the championship contenders in both GT3 and GT4.
Optimum Motorsport’s #77 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo suffered a second consecutive retirement at Donington. Morgan Tillbrook, approaching the Melbourne Hairpin braking zone, lost balance and directly hit the #44 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Jonathon Beeson, 46 minutes into the 2-hour endurance event.
Consequently, Tillbrook and his teammate Ben Barnicoat have fallen from the championship lead to third.
Race winners Rob Collard and Hugo Cook of the #63 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 were mostly unchallenged in the 2-hour endurance event.
Collard/Cook are the new championship leaders after their second win of the year since Race 1 at Oulton Park, now leading on 122.5 points.
Their #78 Barwell Lamborghini teammates Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski retained second place in the GT3 standings, on 107 points, with a non-points-scoring result putting Tillbrook/Barnicoat third on 105.5 points.
Lemmer: Donington ‘one of Barwell’s better wins’
Barwell Motorsport team principal Mark Lemmer reflected on a mixed weekend across his #63 and #78 Lamborghinis, with the former achieving a dominant victory whilst the latter became tangled in an incident.
As Martin approached the lapped #13 Rodin Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, driven by Cameron Campbell, he engaged in a tense battle for the podium and undertook on the grass into Coppice. He collided with the only Ferrari in the field, sending both into the gravel trap, but they escaped without getting stuck.
The Surrey-based outfit looks set to claim a record 8th teams’ title, leading on 232.5 points to Optimum Motorsport’s 174, although the team are equally keen to claim a fifth drivers’ title.
“We knew that we had to execute a really strong weekend, and I’m really pleased we’ve been able to do that,” Lemmer told DSC.
“The #78 car’s been a bit unlucky, getting tangled up with that mess, so really can’t do anything about that. But what we did with the #63 car — drivers, strategy, tyre calls, performance — has been outstanding.
“I’m absolutely delighted. It’s one of our better wins.
“We knew that we were in a good place on the grid, so we didn’t want a lottery, and we got a lottery,” he referred to the unexpected rain shower before the start.
“We made the right call for when to go to slicks, and the guys were fast on the pit stops.
“It’s good to be back into contention because it was a massive setback when we had the fire at Silverstone.
“If we hadn’t had that, we probably would have had another championship in the bag.
“But that’s motorsport, so we fought our way back into contention with the #63 and the #78 still in the mix.”
2 Seas Motorsport turn maiden season podium finishes
Defending GT3 teams’ champions 2 Seas Motorsport secured their first podium finishes of the 2026 season, with both #18 and #15 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos taking second and third outright — the latter claiming GT3 Silver-Am victory.
The Anglo-Bahraini outfit has been unable to match their five wins from last year; however, Donington rewarded the team for a strong collective performance, in contrast to the differing fortunes of the other teams with two GT3 cars each — Barwell Motorsport and Optimum Motorsport.
“It’s been a tough season for us,” team principal Nick Cristofaro admitted.
“Donington’s been our stronger circuit so we kept trying and this weekend just clicked and worked for us.”
Charles Dawson won his British GT title with 2 Seas last year at Donington, and has since made his two appearances in the 2026 season — the Silverstone 500 at the start of the season and just then at Donington.
He took the Bronze Cup class win in the GT World Challenge Europe Nürburgring endurance event one weekend prior with his 2025 co-champion Kiern Jewiss and Reece Barr, and Cristofaro compared the pressure Dawson tolerated from one weekend to another.
“I think when the GT World Challenge has more cars, it’s a lot more pressure for a Bronze.
“You’re in the deep end. You get quite a lot of pressure from the Silvers and Pro drivers that are around you.
“You see that they go on different stints to others, so it’s a bit more chaos when you’re on track.
“Just jumping in this weekend, he knows the [British GT] championship. He knows Donington Park, and he basically did a great job.”
Lulham fastest driver in British GT debut runner-up result
Chris Lulham left the same GTWC Europe Nürburgring event with Verstappen.com Racing’s first podium finish with his teammates Jules Gounon and Dani Juncadella, and followed it up with another one in his British GT debut.
Lulham shared the #18 car with Kevin Tse, during which the 23-year-old claimed the fastest race lap time (1:27.485) and overtook the #15 sister Mercedes en route to second place.
“He’s an awesome driver,” Cristofaro said of Lulham.
“He had his appendicitis [surgery] that meant he missed two GTWC races. So this weekend worked out perfectly for him to slot into.
“Even for Chris to come and do UK circuits, and a less pressured environment than having Max [Verstappen] on your back, it shows the whole thing that Chris has done in only his second year in GT3s.
“It shows the potential of the way he’s done it in motorsport with the simulation and support from Max is definitely working.”
The 2025 GTWC Europe Sprint Gold Cup champion shared his excitement for the Brands Hatch GP season finale, owing to his experience competing in the GT World Challenge fixture.
“You have a lot of medium- and high-speed corners,” Lulham explained, “Some of which you need to take some pretty edgy curb strikes, which can throw the car around somewhere.
“You run right to the limit of the grass, and the punishment for a mistake is massive.
“I saw it in GT World Challenge a couple of times earlier this year. You over push a few kph, and you can end up with a weekend-ending accident pretty quickly.
“I’m sure every driver has to have an element of caution when it matters most in qualifying, because qualifying is going to be 50% of your weekend.”
Century faces GT3 misfortune, ties on GT4 championship lead
Donington was the most promising outing for the sole BMW GT3 car in the field run by 2025 teams’ champions Century Motorsport, taking their first pole position outright and in the GT3 Silver-Am category simultaneously.
Beeson and his teammate Charles Clark were understandably disappointed after being hit, though Century persisted and reached the checkered flag nevertheless.
Clark scored 30 points in the SRO GT Academy rankings, compared to Waberski’s 33, who leads on 212 to Clark’s 202.
Century’s #24 ‘Chomp’ BMW M4 GT4 Evo of Branden Templeton and season debutant Jack Collins achieved a runner-up finish in the GT4 category, with the winning Paddock Motorsport #84 McLaren Artura GT4 out of reach.
Chomp began the race in fifth in the hands of Collins, managing the car under wet-to-dry track conditions before Templeton took over in the second hour, finishing almost 30 seconds ahead of the #74 Innovation Racing Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo.
“They’re two really fast kids,” team manager Mark Armstrong said of Templeton and Collins.
“It all goes down to Brands Hatch for the championship title, so I’m very excited for them.
“They had a great strategy. Started fifth, got through to P2 overall, and P2 in (Silver Cup) class.
“So it’s mega for the championship, and well done to them. Difficult conditions, especially at the start of the race. A super intelligent drive.”
Templeton/Collins head into the Brands Hatch Decider on 127 points, the same as the #74 Innovation Racing Ginetta (Hadley Simpson/Thomas Holland), which leads on countback.
MK Racing’s #21 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo of Will Orton/Jessica Hawkins is close behind on 121 points, with a drive-through penalty for pit lane speeding preventing their charge to the championship lead.
Innovation Racing’s slicks gamble retains GT4 lead on countback
Innovation Racing traversed a rollercoaster of emotions, from claiming pole position to being disqualified due to Ginetta’s error, which put both the #74 and #5 Ginetta’s starting from the pit lane, along with the #42 Toro Verde GT Ginetta.
Team principal Simon Griffiths chose to take a gamble when rain fell before the race start, putting both of his cars on slicks to play the ‘long game’ so that whilst the pair of Ginetta’s struggled during the opening laps, the imminent drying conditions would fall back into their hands.
“I’m massively proud of the team,” said Holland after finishing third.
“The #5 had a bit of a struggle in qualifying, but their pace to get fifth overall in their first-ever British GT race, I’m really proud of them.
“I’m really proud of Hads as well, soaking up the pressure and soaking up a lot of water, starting in the slicks.
“But the call in the end was the right choice and yeah, not bad from pit lane-to-podium in my opinion!”
Toro Verde GT’s turnaround earns ‘Team of the Weekend’
It was no surprise to see the Toro Verde GT team named Team of the Weekend at Donington, having had significantly less track time than their rivals when an oil pump issue in free practice halted progress for their #8 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS, shared by drivers Ian Duggan and Tom Bradshaw.
As a result, they missed pre-qualifying, during which the car was transported off-site for an engine change early the next morning, and qualifying too.
Initially crossing the line third in GT4 Pro-Am, Fox Motorsport was disqualified post-race after someone touched the car under parc ferme — thus promoting the #8 Porsche to second, having started at the back of the grid with their late-fitted engine and only a handful of shakedown laps on race day morning.
Aston Martin factory driver Turner claims third GT4 Pro-Am title
One championship decided at Donington was GT4 Pro-Am, with long-time Aston Martin and Prodrive factory driver Darren Turner achieving his third British GT title with teammate Dan Lavery.
Those up and down the paddock have spoken about how impressed they have been with Lavery’s learning process this season, having defended his way against Hawkins to Grange Racing by FSR’s first win at Oulton Park, Race 2.
A tally of five GT4 Pro-Am wins so far has made it nothing short of impressive for the brand new Rockingham-based team, with Lavery having only driven in a one-make BMW series and a Ginetta G55 GT4 beforehand.
Turner returned to the championship this year for the first time in four years and won his third consecutive GT4 Pro-Am title, exceeding his own expectations, and he gladly told DSC he would have been happy enough for at least a win by the end of this season.
The #27 Aston Martin pairing ended up on 165 points, just out of reach, 37.5 points ahead of second-placed Duggan/Bradshaw — with 37 points awarded for a win at British GT’s endurance rounds.
Grange Racing by FSR’s title pursuits turn towards the outright GT4 title, where they are now third on 116.5 points, 10 points away from Innovation Racing and Century Motorsport.
This round reminded us that life for the British GT title contenders can change in the blink of an eye, and so all will be decided at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on 26-27 September.
