Barwell’s victory catapults #63 Lamborghini into championship lead
+ Lights-to-flag GT4 win for Paddock’s McLaren
Rob Collard and Hugo Cook became firm favourites to seal the British GT3 title by claiming their second victories of the season in a wet/dry two-hour race at Donington Park, while Paddock Motorsport, Revie Lake and Blake Angliss joined the list of series winners with a lights-to-flag GT4 triumph.
Further back, Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner became the first champions of 2026 by scoring their fifth GT4 Pro-Am victory of the season.
Barwell’s duo will hope to join them on this year’s roll of honour at Brands Hatch in three weeks when their #63 Lamborghini starts 15.5 points clear of team-mates Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski. Two-time champion Collard and 2025 runner-up Cook arrived at Donington 20.5 points behind Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat whose retirement just before the pitstops handed the Huracan a significant scoreboard advantage.
Series debutant Chris Lulham starred in qualifying and the race to set fastest lap and finish second alongside Kevin Tse, while 2 Seas’ other Mercedes-AMG shared by Charles Dawson and Aaron Walker completed the overall podium and won GT3’s Silver-Am class.
Conditions that began wet but dried before the pit window prompted the majority of GT4’s runners to stop for slicks before the mandatory driver changes began. But Paddock’s decision to sit tight and wait ultimately helped secure a first overall victory for the team, Angliss and Lake who – at 16 – became one of British GT’s youngest-ever winners.
The battle for this year’s GT4 crown could not be tighter after Century’s Jack Collins and Branden Templeton beat Hadley Simpson and Thomas Holland to second overall following MK Racing’s late penalty. Thus, the top two are now locked on the same number of points, while Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton lie just six further back. Lavery/Turner and Optimum’s Josh Stanton also remain in mathematical contention.
Elsewhere, Jack Mitchell further underlined his status as GT4’s quickest driver by setting a sixth Sunoco fastest lap in seven races.
His Toro Verde GT squad also collected British GT’s Team of the Weekend Award for completing an engine change in time for Sunday’s race. The Porsche Cayman shared by Ian Duggan and Tom Bradshaw finished second in GT4 Pro-Am despite spending most of Saturday in Cheshire where a donor powerplant – sourced from Croft – was fitted. The car arrived back at Donington at 04:30 this morning.
GT3: BARWELL COOKS UP A STORM
A pre-race downpour prompted every GT3 team to start on wet tyres, and it was Barwell’s Collard who put them to best use by blasting past pole man Jonathon Beeson into Redgate.
The Lamborghini initially pulled clear as the battle for second intensified between Beeson and Marc Warren who used the GT4 traffic to jump ahead. But the same delay in momentum also triggered a collision between fourth placed Alex Martin and the lapped Cameron Campbell who both ended up in the Coppice gravel trap.
The wet/slick tyre crossover arrived after 30 minutes – approximately half-an-hour before the mandatory driver changes. 2 Seas were first to react when they pitted Dawson who gained significant time and three places while Warren dropped to third.
Optimum’s McLaren re-took second from the Mercedes-AMG before the window opened but still stopped almost two seconds behind the leading Lamborghini, which rejoined with its advantage intact. Cook proved untouchable thereafter en route to a comfortable victory.
The same could not be said for those behind where further smart 2 Seas pitwork helped Dawson’s co-driver Aaron Walker re-join ahead of Jack Brown, who’d taken over from Warren. The two circulated as one for a time before Lulham’s rapidly advancing Mercedes-AMG pounced when Brown was baulked by GT4 traffic at the Old Hairpin. Third became second soon after thanks to a neat move on his team-mate into Redgate.
But while Barwell was cruising to victory, and 2 Seas a two-three, Optimum’s race was unravelling. Tillbrook, who came into the weekend with a handy 13.5-point championship lead, retired at the Melbourne Hairpin after clashing with Beeson’s BMW before a drive-through penalty for a pitstop infringement dropped Warren and Brown from fourth to seventh.
Beechdean’s Aston Martin, which survived a scary moment with Tillbrook’s stranded McLaren, finished fourth to maintain Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn’s slim but mathematical title hopes, while Martin and Jarrod Waberski recovered from the early off to complete the top five. They now head to Brands with a chance of winning the overall crown as well as Silver-Am, which they lead by 27 points.
Orange/JMH are also amongst the outright title contenders, and remain Pro-Am leaders, following a sixth place finish for Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton in spite of significant Compensation Time, an early spin and drive-through penalty.
GT4: FIRST FOR PADDOCK, TITLE FOR GRANGE/FSR
Blake Angliss and Revie Lake produced a controlled performance in demanding conditions to score their breakthrough victory and a first overall GT4 win for Paddock Motorsport.
But while the race went to their #84 McLaren, the season’s first title was settled in favour of Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner who sealed the GT4 Pro-Am championship for Grange Racing by FSR. The pair brought their Aston Martin home fourth overall and, with results elsewhere going their way, secured the class crown with a race to spare.
GT4’s overall drivers’ title remains very much in the balance, however, with two crews tied at the top.
Paddock’s McLaren may have endured some rotten luck of late but it received a dose of fortune when Angliss was promoted to pole after the Toro Verde and Innovation Ginettas were disqualified from qualifying for a technical infringement.
Keen not to let the chance slip, Angliss nailed his start and immediately forged a gap over the chasing Jack Collins in Century Motorsport’s BMW, Lavery and Josh Stanton in the Optimum Artura.
Rain before the start saw almost the entire field opt for wet tyres, aside from Innovation’s #5 and #74 Ginettas, which rolled the dice with slicks. Although the gamble never really paid off with the track taking 30 minutes to dry, the cars’ lap times acted as a marker for when others should switch to slicks.
Up front, Angliss began to pull away from Collins, with his eventual 16-second lead then being boosted when the BMW was handed a 10-second penalty for passing Lavery’s Vantage off track early on.
That gave Paddock a healthy advantage, so much so that Angliss could afford to pit at the end of the window. Sacrificing lap time on his worn wets ensured the track was fully dry before handing to Lake, who rejoined comfortably clear on slicks and never looked back.
However, circumstances behind have conspired to set up a thrilling championship finale.
Although they couldn’t match the runaway McLaren, Collins and Branden Templeton proved quick and consistent, doing enough to overturn their penalty and hold on to second. That proved vital with Hadley Simpson and Thomas Holland fighting through from the back to snatch third in their Innovation Ginetta – a result that leaves both crews level on points heading to Brands Hatch later this month.
Lavery and Turner battled to fourth overall, a fifth Pro-Am win in a row and the class title. The post-race disqualification of Townsend/Fox’s Aston Martin for a parc ferme infringement reduced their advantage over Ian Duggan and Tom Bradshaw to 37.5 points – the same as winning at Brands. However, Grange/FSR’s duo cannot be beaten regardless thanks to their superior race results.
Samuel Branston and James Wareing impressed on their championship debut by claiming fifth with Innovation despite the challenges of a pitlane start and slick running on a wet track.
They finished ahead of erstwhile points leaders Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton who’d looked set for another podium and an increased championship advantage until the car collected a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits. That dropped MK’s Aston Martin to sixth, leaving its duo third in the championship but only six points down on the leaders.
Lavery/Turner and Josh Stanton, who finished seventh with George Gamble after serving the maximum 45 seconds of Compensation and Silver time, complete the list of five crews capable of becoming GT4 champions at Brands Hatch on September 26/27.
