BRITISH GT & GINETTA GEAR UP FOR OULTON PARK BANK HOLIDAY OUTING
Sprint racing takes centre stage this bank holiday weekend at Oulton Park where the British GT Championship heads for rounds three and four of its 2025 campaign, plus exciting racing in store from the trio of factory Ginetta championships in store too!
British GT (written by Tom Hornsby)
Maximum points from the first two events sees Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss (2 Seas) head the GT3 standings, while GT4’s top two – Marc Warren/Jack Brown (Optimum) and Ravi Ramyead/Charlie Robertson (Century) – cannot be separated after sharing victories at Donington and Silverstone.
British GT traditionally visits Oulton at Easter. That might not be the case this year but its traditional qualifying-on-Saturday, racing-on-Monday format remains a feature at the end of spring when the parkland venue will be at its lushest.
GT3
Not since 2017 have the same drivers won the opening two races. Dawson and Jewiss didn’t quite manage to change that stat at Silverstone but did inherit winners’ points from ineligible guest entrants Darren Leung and Dan Harper.
Victory on the opening weekend at Donington therefore leaves 2 Seas’ #42 Mercedes-AMG with the maximum haul of 75 after two rounds – something that hasn’t happened since Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam won the opening endurance races in 2016. But the team will also be mindful that the destination of this year’s title is still far from decided after letting a 28-point lead slip with two races remaining in 2023.
Compensation time of 10 seconds makes another victory unlikely in Race 1. However, 2 Seas knows how to win at Oulton where its Mercedes-AMGs doubled up two years ago, while Dawson won a GT4 race there last season.
Nevertheless, perhaps it’s the sister machine shared by Kevin Tse – a winner at Oulton on his British GT debut back in 2021 – and co-driver Maximilian Götz who will re-energise their title tilt after scoring just 1.5 points last time out.
They currently occupy sixth in the standings behind Barwell’s two Lamborghini crews and Optimum’s Morgan Tillbrook and Marvin Kirchhöfer. The latter are currently Dawson and Jewiss’ closest competitors after finishing third overall and scoring second place points at Silverstone where the McLaren set new qualifying and race lap records. Such form is not necessarily guaranteed at Oulton, though: both the team and 720S only have one victory to their names in Cheshire, and those were back in 2018 and ’20, respectively.
No team has enjoyed more GT3 success at Oulton than Barwell. Indeed, three of its four drivers won there last year. Alex Martin, who is reunited with Sandy Mitchell this weekend, sits alone in third overall but already 36 points behind Dawson and Jewiss. He therefore needs a large chunk of the 50 available for winning both races – something Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen managed with Barwell in 2017 – to check 2 Seas’ momentum.
Reigning champion Rob Collard will also be a threat in the other Huracan after returning to action with Hugo Cook at Silverstone. He won the season opener at Oulton alongside his son Ricky last year, while Cook is joint fourth with Mitchell in 2025’s early standings.
Elsewhere, Blackthorn’s Aston Martin serves +5 seconds in Monday’s first race for claiming third place points at Silverstone – a result that moved Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam into the squabble for second overall. A victory, most likely in Race 2, would be AMR’s first in the senior class at Oulton since 2018 when Adam triumphed with Flick Haigh.
With Silver-Am’s extra guest entrants only appearing at Silverstone, class honours will be fought between Beechdean and Bridger this weekend. Andrew Howard and Tom Wood have maximum points thus far but the Honda shared by Johnny Ip and Luke Garlick was also competitive on Silverstone’s long, wide layout. Will that also be the case at a much narrower Oulton?
GT4
A win and second place apiece leave Warren/Brown and Ramyead/Robertson locked together atop GT4’s standings. But with both the McLaren and BMW serving extra compensation time in Monday’s first race, there is at least a little room for rivals to reduce their deficits.
Century’s M4 was metronomic en route to victory at Silverstone where Brown, Optimum and the Artura had triumphed for the past two years. Oulton poses a different challenge, though: Optimum hasn’t won a GT4 race there since 2016 when it claimed a rare double, while Century’s only victory with BMW, and first since 2013, came four years ago.
Their chances of changing that will likely depend on the performance of Mahiki’s Lotuses, and specifically its Silver crew. Josh Miller and Aiden Neate have been the fastest combination over the first two races but only have 15 points to show for their efforts following Silverstone’s DNF. At least one win is imperative to the Emira establishing itself as the credible championship challenger its teenage duo have proven they should be.
Mathematically, Ed McDermott and Seb Morris are the top two’s nearest challengers. But the Endurance Cup entrants will not race again until Spa, leaving Silver class leaders Branden Templeton and Chris Salkeld as the next best crew. They head to Oulton 33 points behind their Century team-mates but also have extra time to serve in Race 1 after completing Silverstone’s podium.
Like their Silver rivals at Mahiki, Luca Hopkinson and Harry George require a big weekend if they’re to get back into overall contention. The other side of Optimum’s garage has had all the luck so far in 2025, but the #17 McLaren has a chance to bounce back in Race 1 thanks to a qualifying format that favours Silver over Pro-Am entries and the extra compensation time for the championship leaders.
There’s also Phil Keen who shares Team Parker’s Mercedes-AMG with Jon Currie. British GT’s all-time wins record holder has scored a remarkable six GT3 victories at Oulton since his first there in 2013.
GINETTA GT CHAMPIONSHIP (written by Ginetta)
Archie Clark will be looking to extend his unbeaten start to the 2025 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT Championship across two races this weekend at Oulton Park in Cheshire.
The championship has entered a new era this year with the introduction of the V8-powered Ginetta G56 GTP8, which is producing the fastest ever one-make Ginetta racing, as well as a new race format featuring a 20-minute sprint and a 40-minute endurance run with a mandatory pitstop.
Clark (MDD Racing) has enjoyed a spectacular start with four wins from four races across the opening events at Donington Park and Silverstone. The Ginetta Junior graduate has impressed with his speed and racecraft, battling through to victory having only once started on the front-row of the grid.
Hadley Simpson (Xentek Motorsport) was Clark’s closest competitor last time out, as he bounced back from a tough season opener with a great pair of second place finishes. Cameron Pratt-Thompson (SVG Motorsport) joined him in scoring a maiden Ginetta podium at Silverstone.
Building on an impressive cameo at the end of 2024, Robert Cronin (Elite Motorsport) picked up silverware on the opening weekend and his consistency puts him second in the PRO class points. Car-racing newcomer Jack Collins (E3 Sport) has also enjoyed class podium finishes.
Reigning champion Mckenzie Douglass (Fox Motorsport) returned to the grid at Silverstone and made an instant impact with a podium finish. Another front-runner from 2024 is back on the grid this weekend meanwhile, in the shape of two-time race-winner Conner Garlick (Xentek Motorsport).
Two-time Ginetta champion Nick White (Raceway Motorsport) and Harry Gamble (Elite Motorsport) are the early pace-setters in the hotly-contested PRO-AM category. They’ve each secured two class wins and an overall second place finish across the opening four races.
2024 Ginetta GT Academy rookie victor Mike Taylor (Triple M Motorsport) has also shown his pace at the head of the field, topping the timesheets overall in qualifying at Donington, while Alex Duncan (Xentek Motorsport) celebrated a breakthrough PRO-AM podium last time out.
Luke Shaw (Raceway Motorsport) is leading the way in the AM class meanwhile, having started the season with three consecutive victories. Ali Juffali (Elite Motorsport) broke that winning streak in the last race at Silverstone though and leads a talented group of drivers aiming to catch Shaw in the points.
Emma Tomlinson (DTO Motorsport) and Dominic Paul (Triple M Motorsport) each picked up a trophy on the opening weekend. Amongst those chasing their first top three results of the season are Colin White (CWS), whose next podium will be his 150th in one-make Ginetta racing, plus James Townsend (SVG Motorsport), Amy Tomlinson (Raceway Motorsport) and Fox Motorsport duo James Rolling and Oliver Fordham.
GINETTA GT ACADEMY (written by Ginetta)
If the opening two events of the season are anything to go by, the Ginetta GT Academy is looking as competitive and unpredictable as ever before heading into the latest three races this weekend at Oulton Park.
Charlie Digby (MDD Racing) hit the ground running with a double victory on the opening weekend at Donington Park, but a win in each of the first two rounds has put Jamie Caudle to the top of the standings, while his E3 Sport team-mate James Nicholas also tasted victory at Silverstone last time out.
Consistency has been key for Caudle so far in his second GT Academy campaign, having been the only driver to finish every race inside the top three so far. Digby meanwhile marked his return to Ginetta racing after a near seven-year absence with four consecutive podiums, before a DNF in the Silverstone closer.
Nicholas also has four class podium finishes under his belt, and will be one to watch as he returns to the scene of a stunning overall victory on his car-racing debut last year. Alex Deighton (Paradine by Xentek) is hot on the heels of the top three in the points too, having featured on the podium twice so far.
A number of drivers are ready to break onto the GTA class podium and pick up their first trophies of the campaign. Louis Darling (MDD Racing) has impressed in his maiden season in Ginetta racing, while 2024 podium finisher Peter Thompson (W2R) has featured in the top six already this year.
Paul Livesey (MDD Racing), Phil McGarty (Xentek Motorsport) and Lucie Hodgson (W2R) have all shown their pace with overall top ten results so far, a milestone that SVG Motorsport pair Gilbert Verdian and Chris Babington will be hoping to achieve this weekend.
The early points leader in the rookie class for car-racing newcomers is Sam Shrimpton (W2R). The latest winner of the PalmerSport Ginetta Race Scholarship, following in the footsteps of Nicholas, he has excelled with three class wins and a handful of overall top six finishes to date.
Shiv Sapra (Paradine by Xentek) has joined Shrimpton in featuring at the sharp end of the grid through the opening two events, including qualifying fourth overall and securing a maiden class win at Donington Park. He has three rookie podium finishes under his belt so far.
Joe Edge (W2R) became the latest Ginetta class race-winner in the final round at Silverstone meanwhile. The team boss-turned-driver’s maiden rookie success came in a superb third overall, the highest race finish for any of the rookie contenders in 2025 so far.
The competitiveness of the rookie pack this year is highlighted by the fact all five contenders have picked up trophies already. Allan Wright took a double podium at Donington, while his W2R team-mate Damien Duffy scored his breakthrough top three at Silverstone.
GINETTA JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP (written by Ginetta)
Rocco Coronel has established himself as the driver to beat as the 20th anniversary season of the Ginetta Junior Championship continues with a triple-header this weekend at Oulton Park.
Coronel has enjoyed a sensational start to his maiden Junior campaign, going on an eye-catching run of five race wins in a row. The Red Bull Junior Team driver followed up a Donington Park double with a triumphant hat-trick at Silverstone last time out, including victory in the landmark 500th Ginetta Junior race.
The opening race victory of 2025 at Donington Park went the way of Alfie Slater, with R Racing collecting a clean sweep of the race wins so far this season. Slater has added a couple of second place finishes to kick off his title challenge in his second year in the championship.
R Racing are on course to secure their 200th Ginetta Junior podium this weekend, becoming only the second team in history to reach that milestone. Red Bull Junior ace Scott Kin Lindblom and Max Cuthbert have also secured silverware for them this year, while Jarrett Clark and Felipe Reijs are targeting their first trophies.
One of the main challengers to Coronel so far this season has been Fred Green (Elite Motorsport). The Ginetta Junior Scholarship winner has enjoyed a fantastic start to his rookie year, scoring pole position on his debut weekend and a trio of second place race finishes to date.
Green is part of a multi-car challenge at the front of the field from Elite Motorsport. Rookie contender Joseph Smith celebrated a podium double last time out, on the same weekend that Ethan Carney secured his maiden rostrum, while 2024 race-winner Colin Cronin is chasing his first trophy of 2025.
It’s been a breakthrough season so far for Torrin Byrne and Pace Performance, celebrating their maiden podium at Donington and pole position at Silverstone. Bursting into the lead pack at Silverstone meanwhile was rookie George Proudford-Nalder (MDD Racing) with a hat-trick of top five finishes.
Fellow rookies Freddie Lloyd (Fox Motorsport) and Ethan Lennon (Pace Performance) have also impressed with best results of fourth and fifth respectively, while other rookies to break into the top ten so far include Emmilio Del Grosso (Elite Motorsport), Noah Young (Performance One) and Harry Bartle (MKH Racing).
Felix Livesey (MDD Racing) is another driver to have featured in the top ten, while amongst those in the mix in the hotly-contested midfield battles have been Raul Zunzarren (MKH Racing), Henry Cameron (Fox Motorsport) and Revie Lake (Elite Motorsport).
Championship newcomers Tim Gray Motorsport have made their presence felt in their debut campaign too, running a four-strong entry of Josh Watts, Matthew Chiwara, Katrina Ee and Joshua Henry.
