+ 2 Seas’ Dawson and Jewiss out to extend early GT3 advantage
+ Nothing to separate GT4’s top two ahead of rounds three and four
+ Provisional entry list: Oulton Park
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.
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.
Indeed, fans watching trackside will be treated to perhaps British GT’s most picturesque spectacle of the season. But those unable to attend needn’t miss out either: Sky Sports F1 and SRO’s GT World YouTube channel will have live coverage of both 60-minute sprint races as well as qualifying this bank holiday.
GT3: CAN ANYONE STOP 2 SEAS?
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: NOTHING TO SEPARATE CENTURY AND OPTIMUM
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.
OULTON PARK TIMETABLE
Friday 23 May
10:45 – 11:40: Test 1
13:55 – 14:50: Test 2
16:05 – 17:00: Test 3
Saturday 24 May
09:20 – 10:20: Free Practice
11:55 – 12:55: Pre-Qualifying
15:45 – 15:55: Qualifying 1 (GT3)
15:59 – 16:09: Qualifying 2 (GT3)
16:13 – 16:23: Qualifying 3 (GT4)
16:28 – 16:38: Qualifying 4 (GT4)
Monday 26 May
09:05 – 09:20: Warm-up
10:45 – 11:45: Race 1
13:55 – 14:20: Pitwalk + autograph session
15:50 – 16:50: Race 2
LAP RECORDS
GT3 – 1m33.857s – Jules Gounon – RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 – 2022
GT4 – 1m43.059s – Sennan Fielding – Steller Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4 – 2022
PITSTOP SPECIFICS – ONE-HOUR RACE
GT3 cars must make their mandatory driver change at 22-32 minutes, while GT4’s pit window is 28-38 minutes.
Mandatory Pitstop Times (pit-in to pit-out)
GT3: 70s | GT4: 100s
Pitstop Compensation Time
Each class’ top three finishers from the previous round must be stationary for additional time during their mandatory pitstop.
10s – #42 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG – Dawson/Jewiss
07s – #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren – Tillbrook/Kirchhöfer
05s – #7 Blackthorn Aston Martin – Petrobelli/Adam
10s – #71 Century Motorsport BMW – Ramyead/Robertson
07s – #90 Optimum Motorsport McLaren – Warren/Brown
05s – #14 Century Motorsport BMW – Templeton/Salkeld
All GT4 Silver Cup entries must serve an additional 14s during their mandatory driver changes and carry 25kg of ballast.
