British GT Championship - Round 2 - Paradine and Century shine at the Silverstone 500!

Record-breaking laps, strategic masterstrokes, and last-lap pressure sees guest stars Paradine Competition clinch victory as Century Motorsport dominate in GT4, in a Silverstone 500 that shook up the British GT title fights.

QUALIFYING

Early in Q1, it was the #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720s GT3 Evo, driven by Morgan Tillbrook, who set the pace and initially claimed provisional pole position. His lead however, was short-lived, seeing the #7 Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Giacomo Petrobelli responded with a flying lap of a 1:58.713, putting the AMR on top as the session intensified. The battle continued, seeing Kevin Tse in the #18 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo pushing up to second with a strong lap, just behind Petrobelli, and as the chequered flag was waved, Tillbrook improved on his time, climbing up to second, just eleven-tenths shy of Petrobelli’s time.

Qualifying two kicked off with a rapid lap time from Marcus Clutton in the #67 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren 720s GT3 Evo, who went to the top with a 1:57.396, but this was not to remain for long, with the session belonging to Marvin Kirchhöfer in the #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren, who lit up the timing screens with a record-breaking 1:56.569, setting a new GT3 qualifying lap record, and placing the car firmly at the top. Continuing the charge, Maximilian Götz in the #18 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes delivered a powerful lap, which when combined with Tse’s Q1 effort, put the AMG into second on aggregate times. Meanwhile, in the Silver-Am Cup, the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 claimed pole position in class, and an impressive ninth position overall, showing competitive pace amidst the twenty-one car GT3 field.

GT4 action saw Ed McDemott in the #12 Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 lay down the early benchmark, clocking in with a 2:11.017, however, his lead didn’t last long, as Chris Salkeld in the #14 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 Evo immediately responded with a stronger 2:10.226, pushing McDermott down the order. The times started to trickle through, with a new standard being set by Josh Miller in the #84 Mahiki Racing Lotus Emira GT4, with a blistering 2:07.981, taking provisional pole position by a mile. In the dying minutes of the first GT4 session, Marc Warren delivered a solid lap in the #90 Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4, slotting into third position, just behind the sister #17 Artura of Harry George, who was 1.396 seconds behind the Lotus of Miller.

There was an early shake-up at the top in the second GT4 session, with the #69 Mahiki Racing Lotus going fastest, only for the sister #84 to snatch the quickest time, showing Mahiki’s consistency across two cars. Then came Charlie Robertson in the #71 Century Motorsport BMW, posting a rapid 2:08.111, making him the fastest in the session so far, but despite the impressive time, it only moved his car to second position on aggregate times. The battle intensified to the final moment, seeing Jack Brown in the #90 improving, bumping Optimum Motorsport to second on combined times, and lead of the Pro-Am category. In a late blunder, Jack Mitchell in the #69 Lotus managed to set the fastest lap of either session, with a 2:07.965, setting the outright best GT4 qualifying time. Despite this, a lack of similar pace in the first session meant the car could only manage fifth on aggregate times.

RACE

The 2025 edition of the Silverstone 500 roared into action immediately, seeing Alex Martin in the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 making an early move on the #7 Blackthorn Aston Martin of Giacomo Petrobelli, climbing into third position. Meanwhile, in the GT4 class, Ravi Ramyead in the #71 Century Motorsport BMW got the better of Marc Warren in the #90 Optimum Motorsport McLaren, grabbing second position in the early stages, with Warren slipping back to fifth in GT4 during the opening lap.

Meanwhile in the opening hour of the race, Chun Cheong Ip began a strong run in the #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX GT3, overtaking the #27 Steller Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Matt Topham at Brooklands for thirteenth position overall, and continued his charge, this time passing the #3 Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Mike Price for twelfth. Petrobelli was able to reclaim his third position from Alex Martin, with a bold move into Vale, while a moment of drama saw the sister Blackthorn Aston Martin of Claude Bovet spin at the Village Loop, after minor contact with the #66 Team Parker Racing Porsche 992 GT3 R of Nick Jones.

With just thirty minutes of the race completed, the #86 Bridger Motorsport Honda pitted for the first time, handing over to Luke Garlick, and a few minutes later the #1 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of Rob Collard overtook the sister car for fourth position, just as Kevin Tse pitted from second position in the #18 AMG. Shortly after this, the #3 McLaren of Price was seen going slowly, and eventually came to a halt in the Village Loop, prompting a Full Course Yellow, with the #7 Blackthorn AMR pitting, but the #77 McLaren and #1 Lamborghini reacted immediately, diving into the pits and gaining massive track position.

Dan Harper in the #91 Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3 Evo, having already pitted earlier, returned to the pits under FCY, switching back to Darren Leung, just before the safety car was called. Once the racing was able to continue, Marvin Kirchhöfer resumed the race in the #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren, just ahead of Hugo Cook in the #1 Lamborghini and Kiern Jewiss in the #42 Mercedes. On the restart, Kevin Tse and Marcus Clutton made contact at turn one in the #18 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes and #67 Orange Racing McLaren respectively, sending Tse off track, and dropping multiple positions.

Just moments after going green, trouble struck for Matt Griffin in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 GT3, who was stuck in the gravel-trap at Vale, after contact from Sam Neary in the #8 Team Abba Racing Mercedes, triggering another full course yellow, and another wave of pit stops.

Fifteen minutes later, Sam Neary resumed the race ahead of two Aston Martins of #97 Beechdean Motorsport and #19 Blackthorn, with Tom Wood and Charles Bateman at the wheels. In a turn of events, the #1 and #18 cars were both given drive through penalties for overtaking under yellow flags, a major mistake from both teams, and later the Team Abba Racing Mercedes was given a harsh ten-second stop and go penalty for the contact with the #55 Ferrari. Another spell of bad luck hit the #84 Mahiki Racing Lotus of Aiden Neate, while leading the class, suffered a suspected rear suspension failure through the Abbey and Farm corners, ending up in the gravel and causing another full course yellow.

Racing resumed with Andrew Howard in the #97 Aston, leading the #19 Aston and Richard Neary in the #8 AMG, however the final hour saw spells of penalties for highly competitive entries, which would lead to a nail-biting battle right to the chequered flag. Kirchhöfer set the fastest lap of the race, the #91 Paradine Competition BMW was required to serve a second stop and go penalty for a short pitstop, dropping to fifth position at the time. Meanwhile, Kiern Jewiss came into the pits in order to reset his stint-timer, and emerged just ahead of Daniel Harper in second position, with the #97 and #19 Aston Martins pitting. 

Unfortunately, the #42 Mercedes of Jewiss was hit with a crucial drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellows while leading the race, giving up the twenty-one second advantage to #91 Harper, who was able to overtake the Mercedes while exiting the pits from serving his penalty, seizing the lead of the race.

The gap between first and second was under a second for many moments, but importantly GT4 traffic made it difficult for Jewiss to get closer and attempt an overtake on Harper. With the final lap in progress, the margin was just a few tenths, but the #91 Paradine Competition BMW of Daniel Harper and Darren Leung was able to hold off the pressure, and take victory at the Silverstone 500. The Paradine Competition duo became the first drivers to win the Silverstone 500 multiple times together, with Sandy Mitchell winning the race in 2020 and 2022, but with different teammates each time.

Pole-sitter, and lap-record holder Kirchhöfer and Morgan Tillbrook came home to finish third in the #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren. Darren Burke and Matt Topham scored the victory for the Silver-Am class in the #27 Steller Motorsport Audi, just ahead of Andrew Howard and Tom Wood in the #97 Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin and Charles Bateman and Claude Bovet in the #19 Blackthorn Vantage.

Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson won the GT4 class overall, with their sister #14 car of Chris Salkeld and Branden Templeton winning in the Silver class, as well as third in GT4, a successful day for Century Motorsport and BMW.

CHAMPIONSHIP IMPLICATIONS

Due to the fact that the #91 Paradine Competition BMW was a guest entry for the Silverstone 500 only, they are unable to score points, essentially handing the #42 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss maximum points for the weekend, and sees the crew lead the overall championship with 75 points, thirty points ahead of Marvin Kirchhöfer and Morgan Tillbrook in the #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren, and Alex Martin in the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini in third with 39 points. In the GT3 Silver-Am Cup, Beechdean Motorsport lead the championship by twenty-one points over the Bridger Motorsport Honda, with the majority of the Silver entries at Silverstone being one-offs.

The overall GT4 championship sees the Donington Park winners of Jack Brown and Marc Warren, and the Silverstone 500 winners of Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson tied on 64.5 points each, a considerable thirty points ahead of the Team Parker Racing Mercedes of Ed McDermott and Seb Morris. Century Motorsport lead the Silver GT4 championship, while the #84 Mahiki Racing Lotus missed out on scoring points at Silverstone, and the #17 Optimum Motorsport McLaren failing to score points at Donington Park.

ONTO ROUND THREE

The next round of the British GT Championship heads to Oulton Park in Cheshire, for two one hour races on the spring bank holiday on 26th May.

Images © SRO/JEP