+ 9 points separate GT3’s top three title contenders
+ Optimum and Century continue GT4 battle
+ Provisional entry list: Brands Hatch
2025’s British GT Championship heads towards its final stages this weekend at Brands Hatch where both the GT3 and GT4 titles could be decided with a race to spare.
A win apiece for 2 Seas’ Mercedes-AMGs in Rounds 6 & 7 sees Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss lead team-mates Kevin Tse and Maximilian Götz by eight points, with Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam (Blackthorn) just one point behind in third.
GT4’s top two also both won at Snetterton. However, Optimum’s runaway championship leaders, Marc Warren and Jack Brown, enjoy a far more comfortable 23.5-point advantage over Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson (Century).
Following those two 60-minute sprints the action returns to a two-hour format, which, just like the season-opener at Donington, will see teams make one mandatory pitstop on Sunday. But unlike all other British GT events, there’s no typical pre-weekend testing; instead, drivers jump straight into Free Practice on Saturday morning.
Can’t make it trackside this Bank Holiday? Then head over to SRO’s GT World YouTube channel or Sky Sports F1 for live qualifying and race coverage this Saturday and Sunday.
GT3: 1-2 Seas
A pair of wins across Norfolk’s sprints sees 2 Seas’ topping both the teams’ and drivers’ standings with two races left. Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss remain out front, as they have been since Round 1, and actually extended their advantage before the summer break despite Kevin Tse and Maximilian Götz bagging first and second place finishes.
The eight-point difference means #42’s crew must win at Brands – something no Mercedes-AMG has ever achieved outright – for a chance to become the first drivers since 2010 to be crowned GT3 champions before the finale. But that also depends on their team-mates finishing eighth or lower, while Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam can be classified no higher than seventh.
#18 has the full 20 seconds of Compensation Time to contend with, but Blackthorn’s Spa-winning Aston Martin – just like Dawson and Jewiss – does at least race handicap-free.
Optimum’s #77 McLaren is also a mathematical title contender despite Morgan Tillbrook and Marvin Kirchhöfer remaining win-less. Instead, their campaign has been built on consistency having scored points in all seven races so far, as well as the German’s prodigious qualifying pace. With no additional time to serve in Sunday’s pitstop, Brands represents an excellent opportunity to reduce their 18-point deficit ahead of Donington Decider.
Ditto Alex Martin, who starts level on 100 points with Tillbrook/Kirchhöfer. He secured his third second-place finish of the year last time out alongside Sandy Mitchell – the same driver with whom he shared Brands victory in 2024. Patrick Kujala returns to the pro seat this weekend when he’s tasked with overturning 15 seconds of Compensation Time during the second stint.
Barwell’s other Lamborghini completed Race 2’s podium at Snetterton, meaning Hugo Cook and Rob Collard – who returns to the scene of his second title triumph a year ago – must also serve extra time in the pits. Those handicaps will also hinder Barwell’s aspirations of retaining the teams’ title, trailing 2 Seas as it does by 33.5 points. 129 are still available across the two remaining races.
Elsewhere, Jay Bridger remains with Johnny Ip in the sole Honda NSX. They secured Silver-Am honours in both of Norfolk’s 60-minute sprints, which leaves Ip just 3.5 points behind Beechdean’s Aston Martin shared by Andrew Howard and Tom Wood.
However, the Spirit of Race Ferrari is unable to attend due to Duncan Cameron’s clashing European Le Mans Series commitments.
GT4: Can Optimum take its chance?
GT4’s title battle remains a two-horse race ahead of the penultimate round where Optimum’s McLaren has a second chance to clinch the drivers’ crown.
The first was, admittedly, a very long shot. Leaders Marc Warren and Jack Brown could have secured the championship at Snetterton, but they needed to have won both races and Century’s BMW had a non-points scoring weekend – as was the case at Oulton Park back in May – for that to happen.
Race 1 victory did go to Marc and Jack, but Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson duly cleaned up in Race 2 to claim their third win of the year. It also maintained a remarkable run of only the #90 Artura and #71 BMW visiting victory lane this year.
However, maximum Compensation Time following their success in Norfolk now hinders Ramyead and Robertson at Brands where Warren and Brown race penalty-free. And that could be significant given their current 23.5-point advantage. Indeed, scoring 14 points more than Century’s duo would be enough to seal the deal before Donington.
Brown, Optimum and McLaren wrapped up their first GT4 title together in dominant fashion at Brands last year. A second would make Brown British GT4’s first-ever two-time overall champion, while #90’s combination would become the first Pro-Am crew to win outright since Optimum oversaw Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson’s 2016 triumph.
The battle for Silver honours, just like the overall title, is also very much a two-way fight between Century and Optimum. Branden Templeton and Chris Salkeld trail Harry George and Luca Hopkinson outright but lead the class by four points with 75 still available for winning at Brands and Donington.
Just like their team-mates, though, Templeton and Salkeld must serve extra time in the pits for finishing third overall in Snetterton’s second race. Their rivals, meanwhile, compete penalty-free.
Elsewhere, Ian Duggan and Joe Wheeler scored their best result of the season in Mahiki’s Ginetta G56 at Snetterton. Their second-place finish means they’ll spend an extra 15 seconds stationary during Sunday’s stop.
But there’s a change on the other side of Mahiki’s garage where Luke Garlick joins Blake Angliss in the #69 car, which moves from Pro-Am to Silver.
BRANDS HATCH TIMETABLE
Saturday 23 August
09:25 – 10:25: Free Practice
11:50 – 12:50: Pre-Qualifying
15:55 – 16:05: Qualifying 1(GT3)
16:09 – 16:19: Qualifying 2 (GT3)
16:23 – 16:33: Qualifying 3 (GT4)
16:38 – 16:48: Qualifying 4 (GT4)
Sunday 24 August
09:05 – 09:45: Pitwalk + autograph session
10:00 – 10:15: Warm-up
13:00 – 15:00: Race
LAP RECORDS
GT3 – 1m24.031s – Tom Wood – Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage Evo – 2024
GT4 – 1m31.643s – Michael O’Brien – Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GT Supra Evo – 2024
PITSTOP SPECIFICS
The number of driver changes are free but there are minimum and maximum total drive times for the starting driver. In GT4 starting drivers must complete a minimum of 58 minutes, while in GT3 this rises to 62 minutes. All classes share the same maximum starting drive time of 70 minutes.
MANDATORY PITSTOP TIMES (pit-in to pit-out)
GT3: 115s | GT4: 145s
PITSTOP COMPENSATION TIME
20s - #18 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG (GT3) + #71 Century Motorsport BMW (GT4)
15s - #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan (GT3) + #88 Mahiki Racing Ginetta (GT4)
10s - #1 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan (GT3) + #14 Century Motorsport BMW (GT4)
All GT4 Silver Cup entries must serve an additional 24s during their mandatory driver changes and carry 25kg of ballast.
