Greystone GT’s Zac Meakin and Dean Macdonald won the final race of the 2026 International GT Open season as Elite Motorsport’s Tom Lebbon and Tom Emson claimed the championship title.
The #33 Greystone GT McLaren 720S GT3 Evo duo performed flawlessly during the 60-minute sprint race, leading from the very first lap and executing a mistake-free run — particularly with Macdonald’s unmatched pace during his opening stint.
However, Meakin (147 points) ended up just one point behind the #17 Elite Ferrari pairing (148) in the standings, who recovered from as low as eighth place before the pit window.
Meakin emerged ahead of Lebbon after their pit stops, but Lebbon’s work was far from over as he ran in fourth position, behind the #28 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Marcelo Ramírez.
While Meakin stood at the front, Lebbon pressured Ramírez in pursuit of the title. If Lebbon remained in fourth place, Meakin would have won the title instead by one point.
The #17 Elite Ferrari driver briefly took third but was asked to return the position after taking it on the inside run-off area at Turn 10.
Another attack proved effective, seeing Lebbon wrestle his way into the crucial third place with 13 minutes remaining. The 2024 GT4 European Series champion then sustained pressure to the end from this year’s GT4 European Series champion McKenzy Cresswell in the other #44 Greystone McLaren — who also won it for Elite Motorsport.
“It was definitely close,” admitted championship runner-up Meakin.
“It was an interesting battle at the end. My race was a bit more smooth sailing, thanks to Dean.
“But a massive thank you to the team, massive thank you to him (Dean) and thank you to the championship as well.”
“Of course, it’s always nice for the team to get the [Teams’] title,” added Macdonald.
“It would have been even better if Zac managed to get the title today, but you know, we gave it everything we could.
“A massive thank you to Greystone GT and Zac, who drove all year amazingly in the car.”
Meakin achieved an impressive 11 podium finishes this season, becoming GT Open’s 200th different race winner during his success in Race 2 at the Portimão opener. His McLaren factory teammate Macdonald played a key role, finishing third on 142 points.
Pietro Armanni and Alex Fontana concluded an impressive debut campaign for ZRS Motorsport with the #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.
On the run-up to the first corner, Fontana drove door-to-door with Macdonald as the race began before being joined by #28 Motopark Mercedes driver Dominik Baumann.
Macdonald retained his top spot ahead of Fontana whilst Baumann sustained minor front-left bodywork damage after contact with the #97 Blackthorn Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo, driven by Henrique Chaves.
The #33 Greystone McLaren established a significant gap on the #911 ZRS Porsche, whilst the #17 Elite Ferrari, with Emson piloting, pitted early in an attempt to undercut Greystone, which proved unsuccessful.
Meakin completed 35 laps and won by 4.626 seconds on the #911 ZRS Porsche of Armanni/Fontana, who was 11 seconds ahead of the #17 Elite Ferrari of Lebbon/Emson.
Greystone’s #44 McLaren of Cresswell/Callum Davies secured fourth position from 12th place on the grid.
Rafael Durán and Tommaso Mosca finished fifth in the AF Corse Ferrari #51 after incurring a five-second time penalty for failing to meet their minimum pit stop time of 70 seconds.
Durán held off Ramírez towards the end of the race, with the #28 Motopark Mercedes (Ramírez/Baumann) taking sixth.
Double TT Racing’s #62 Ferrari shared by Gilles Renmans and Leonardo Colavita finished seventh despite the former’s additional pressure on Ramírez.
Yesterday’s winners Christian Mansell and Maximilian Götz struggled today, with the latter driver being unable to hold off Mosca (#51 AF Corse Ferrari) for P4 in the opening stint, as the #71 Team Motopark Mercedes drivers managed P8 ahead of the team’s #99 Mercedes (Nikita Mazepin/Cesar Gazeau).
Thomas Neubauer and Yaroslav Vesalaho finished 10th in the #96 AF Corse Ferrari, having started down in 19th.
SMC Motorsport’s #770 McLaren pairing of Alejandro Geppert/Ben Dörr finished 11th today, followed by the #23 Optimum McLaren of Joe Osborne/Ford Koch, who reached the checkered flag after being taken out at the start of yesterday’s race.
Olimp Racing won in the Pro-Am category in the hands of #777 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 drivers Marcin Jedliński and Karol Basz, with the latter taking the lead during the opening stint.
Pro-Am pole-sitter James Kell (#88 Track Focused McLaren) fell from P5 to P11 outright at the start, losing the class lead to #81 Norik Racing Ferrari driver Charlie Fagg. Fagg later fought with Basz, who handed it to Jedliński leading after their pit stops.
Chaves had a disastrous start to his race from P2 in Pro-Am, running out wide across the gravel at the opening corner and falling to P27 overall.
Despite the 2020 GT Open champion’s setback, he and teammate Charles Bateman brought the #97 Blackthorn Aston Martin P6 in class, enough for Bateman to seal the 2026 Pro-Am championship title.
Team ISR’s Libor Milota and Filip Salaquarda came 14th outright and second in Pro-Am in their #75 Audi — ahead of the Am class-winning #5 Olimp Ferrari of Krystian Korzeniowski, who overtook Galid Osman (#16 AF Corse Ferrari) for P2 on the second lap, later taking the lead after the pit stop cycle.
Behind them were Alexander Fach/Alexander in the #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche, as third in Pro-Am was not enough to beat the #97 Blackthorn to the title.
Sixth in Am, #12 Fach Auto Tech Porsche driver Joel Monegro, with the help this weekend from his teammate Thomas Kiefer, earned himself the Am class title.
The #81 Norik Ferrari of Norikazu Shibata/Fagg finished P4 in Pro-Am ahead of the #54 CBRX by SPS Mercedes of Dexter Müller/Yannick Mettler, who charged from the back of the field.
Behind the #97 Blackthorn Aston Martin, Yelmer Buurmann/Nigel Schoonderwoerd brought the #89 Motopark Mercedes seventh in Pro-Am.
Mikkel O. Pederson/Lars Engelbrekt Pedersen’s #117 Porsche crossed the finish line in P8, followed by the #26 Saintéloc Audi (Jim Pla/Michaël Blanchemain) and the #7 Schubert BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Hurbert Darmetko/Fabian Dybionka).
In 24th outright, Seweryn Mazur claimed second in Am in the #77 Grupo Prom Mercedes ahead of the #6 Baron Ferrari of Adrian Lewandowski to round out the Am podium.
The #63 Scuderia Villorba Corse Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Leonardo Moncini/Rodrigo Testa) withdrew before the start due to an engine issue.
