British GT Championship - 2025 Preview, while Clutton tops pre-season testing

Join our 2025 British GT Championship preview, while Marcus Clutton for Orange Racing tops the timesheets at Silverstone pre-season testing.

2025 GT3 ENTRY LIST

Aston Martin

The British marque is represented on the 2025 grid with two entries from Beechdean Motorsport and Blackthorn, both bringing the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, which had some teething issues during its debut run in the 2024 season. Beechdean Motorsport’s #97 will be in the Silver-Am class, with Andrew Howard and Tom Wood at the wheel, with the former being a two-time British GT Champion in 2013 and 2015. Tom Wood made his British GT debut at the Brands Hatch round in 2024 alongside Howard, achieving a class podium, and the series lap record.

Blackthorn comes with just a single entry for 2025, after running a duo of Aston Martin’s in 2024. Four-time British GT Champion Jonny Adam will return with Giacomo Petrobelli, who has strong experience in European GT racing, as well as multiple Le Mans starts. Blackthorn have had an extensive winter program, participating in the three rounds of the Asian Le Mans Series at Sepang, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Petrobelli stated that this year they will be fighting for race wins, and the championship title, after a tough opening season with the evo-spec, but showed pace and consistency to be up at the top.

Ferrari

The classic Italian manufacturer returns to the British GT Championship as a full-time entry for the first time since the 2020 season, as well as the first time for the Ferrari 296 GT3 in the championship. Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin return under the same lineup, but with the Swiss Spirit of Race team. The duo have raced together in Ferrari’s for many years, including in the European Le Mans Series, Blancpain GT Series, and Le Mans.

Honda

Honda makes their debut in the British GT Championship, with a single Honda NSX GT3 Evo2 entry from the newly-formed Bridger Motorsport, with Chun Cheong Ip and Luke Garlick spearheading the effort. Garlick raced and won the Ginetta GT5 Championship in 2023, and then finished third in the Ginetta GT Championship in 2024, so is relatively new to car racing, while Ip has raced in Mazda’s and a McLaren 570s GT4 in the Britcar Endurance Championship. The Honda is in the Silver-Am class, so will be battling with the Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin.

Lamborghini

Barwell Motorsport, the 2024 drivers and teams champion, will return with two Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2’s, however the title winning father-and-son combination of Rob and Ricky Collard will not return. Rob will participate in the #1 entry, however he will miss the first round at Donington Park due to emergency surgery, and will be filled in by Matt Topham alongside Hugo Cook. Alex Martin, who was so close to the title last year, will return with a mixture of Sandy Mitchell and Patrick Kujala, with the latter racing at the Silverstone 500, Spa-Francorchamps and Brands Hatch rounds. The highly successful and dominant Barwell Motorsport team will be looking at retaining the title heading into 2025.

McLaren

No less than five McLaren 720s GT3 Evo’s will battle on home soil in the 2025 season, with all entries competing in the Pro-Am class. Optimum Motorsport have entered two cars for the season, with Mike Price and Callum Macleod in the #3, while Morgan Tillbrook will pair up with McLaren factory driver Marvin Kirchhöfer in the #77 car.

Paddock Motorsport return with their #9 entry of Mark Smith and Martin Plowman, who as a former Le Mans winner in the LMP2 class, should bring a wealth of experience to compete for wins and podiums across the British tracks. Another prototype racer, Oliver Webb, will spearhead the Greystone GT #24 car alongside Andrey Borodin.

Simon Orange, and his team Orange Racing by JMH will step-up to the Pro-Am class, with Orange pairing up with multiple British GT pole sitter, race winner and podium finisher Marcus Clutton, who has a wealth of experience in McLaren machinery.

Mercedes-AMG

Mercedes have always been a stalwart of the British GT Championship, providing the German brand with at least ten race wins across the last three seasons, alongside twenty plus podiums. For the 2025 season, three AMG’s will thunder around the tracks with a hope of victory and grabbing the title at the end of the season.

Team Abba Racing step-up to the Pro-Am class for 2025, after son Sam Neary was upgraded from Silver to Gold, essentially disallowing the team from participating in Silver classes. The family-run team have been a consistent factor of the British GT Championship, and have achieved race wins, podiums and top-ten performances across their eight seasons campaigning the Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Bahraini team 2 Seas Motorsport will campaign two entries in 2025, with the #18 of Kevin Tse and DTM champion and factory driver Maximilian Götz, while the #42 includes Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss, with the latter being a former British F4 champion, and 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain champion. Dawson is the reigning GT4 Pro-Am champion, where he won the championship alongside Seb Morris in a Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4.

Porsche

Porsche will return to the British GT Championship with a single 992 GT3 from Team Parker Racing, which will feature Nick Jones and Porsche factory driver Sven Müller. Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain champion and Porsche Supercup race winner Harry King will deputise for Müller at the Spa-Francorchamps round, due to Müller’s prior commitments for Porsche. 

2025 GT4 ENTRY LIST

Aston Martin

Only a single Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo will be present in the British GT Championship in 2025, with the entry coming from MKH Racing, with Peter Montague and Stuart Hall at the wheel. Hall is an FIA World Endurance Championship race winner, and won the title in 2013 with the Aston Martin Vantage GTE. MKH Racing made their British GT debut with the non-evo Aston Martin at the final round at Donington Park in 2023, with 2022 British Touring Car champion Tom Ingram at the wheel. The entry for 2025 will be for the Endurance Cup rounds, which include Donington Park, Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps and Donington Park again.

BMW

Century Motorsport return to the British GT Championship, however only fielding GT4’s in 2025, with two M4 GT4 Evo’s. The #14 will include Branden Templeton and Chris Salkeld, affectionately sporting the ‘Harriott’s Chariot’, with the former stepping up from the GB4 championship. The sister #71 car will include Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson, who managed to achieve a GT4 victory at Snetterton in 2024.

Lotus

Mahiki Racing announced that they are now an official partner with Lotus Cars, and will bring an upgraded three Emira’s to the 2025 season. The #69 will include Steven Lake and Jack Mitchell, with the latter being the GT4 champion from 2018 in a Century Motorsport M4. The #84 will include Aiden Neate and Josh Miller, with the latter racing in Aston Martin GT4s since 2022. The third and final Emira from Mahiki Racing will be the #88, which includes Ian Duggan and Joe Wheeler, both with extensive knowledge and experience in GT4 racing.

McLaren

Optimum Motorsport bring an additional two McLaren’s to the grid for 2025, with an Artura for Harry George and Luca Hopkinson, and another for reigning GT4 champion Jack Brown, who pairs up with Marc Warren for 2025, subsequently stepping to the Pro-Am class from Silver. The third McLaren Artura GT4 comes from Jolt Racing, who will make their British GT debut with John Ingram and Rupert Williams.

Mercedes-AMG

Three Mercedes’ will be present in the GT4 category, with Ed McDermott and Seb Morris pairing together in a Team Parker Racing run entry, while the highly experienced Phil Keen joins Jon Currie in the second Parker entry. Meanwhile, Rob Boston Racing will participate in the Endurance Cup rounds with Jamie Orton and Will Burns.

PRE-SEASON TESTING

Seven hours of pre-season testing occurred at Silverstone’s Media Day on Friday 21st March, with the morning session being topped by Marcus Clutton in the #67 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren 720s GT3 Evo with a 1:57.679, closely followed by Harry King in the Team Parker Racing Porsche 992 GT3 R and Kiern Jewiss in the #42 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Reigning GT4 champion Jack Brown topped the session with a 2:09.286 in his Optimum Motorsport prepared McLaren Artura, followed by the trio of Lotus Emira’s from Mahiki Racing. 

The afternoon sessions were once again topped by Clutton in his McLaren, setting a 1:56.961, while his former teammate Morgan Tillbrook was just a second behind in the #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren. Barwell slotted in third, with the Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell duo.

Century Motorsport’s Charlie Robertson topped the GT4 charts with a 2:08.468, once again followed by a duo of Mahiki Racing Lotus’.

One fact of the matter, and a challenge for all teams and drivers heading into the opening round at Donington Park on the 6th April, will be the brand-new Pirelli P Zero DHG tyre, with Pirelli aiming to provide a wider working range, faster warm-up, and greater consistency in terms of balancing the car over longer distances. These new-generation tyres will be rolled out to all SRO Motorsport championships, including the GT World Challenge Europe campaign kicking off at Paul Ricard in April, the GT2 European Series, and the GT4 European Series. A later rollout for the SRO championships in Asia, America and Australia will happen throughout 2025.

OPENING UP AT DONINGTON PARK

Donington Park will play host to the first round of the British GT Championship in 2025, having switched from its classic Oulton Park double-header on Easter Weekend. The race will be a two-hour endurance, and will play part of the Endurance Cup for the GT4 class, with qualifying on Saturday 5th, and the race on the 6th April. 

The opening round at Donington Park will be supported by the Ginetta GT Academy, GT Championship and Junior Championship, the TCR UK championship, while single-seater action will be provided from the GB4 Championship.

Images © SRO / JEP