+ Fellow British GT champions honoured at global SRO Awards in Venice
Kiern Jewiss added British GT’s highest non-championship honour – the Allan Simonsen Award – to his 2025 drivers’ crown at SRO’s global gathering of champions in Venice today.
The 23-year-old and his 2 Seas co-driver Charles Dawson collected their trophies alongside British GT4 champions Marc Warren and Jack Brown at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia – a striking example of Renaissance architecture located in the north of the historic Italian city.
They were joined on stage by class title winners Andrew Howard and Tom Wood (GT3 Silver-Am), Luca Hopkinson and Harry George (GT4 Silver), and Ed McDermott and Seb Morris (GT4 Endurance Cup), as well as representatives from teams’ champions 2 Seas (GT3) and Optimum (GT4).
However, the name of British GT’s 13th Allan Simonsen Award recipient remained under wraps until Jewiss was announced at Saturday afternoon’s ceremony in front of SRO’s other European and Asian GT3 champions.
The special award is traditionally won by the driver who embodies the same speed and spirit as the much-missed Danish ace, who enhanced his reputation over several impressive British GT seasons with Rosso Verde and Ferrari.
Reigning champions do not always win the award. Indeed, this is only the sixth time in 13 years that the GT3 or GT4 title winner has also been recognised. Jewiss’ selection is testament to a maiden British GT campaign that featured three victories, two of which were achieved with additional ballast. Jewiss and Dawson’s fast start – maximum points in the first two races – set the foundations for an impressive year that also played a pivotal role in 2 Seas’ teams’ championship success.
Those performances followed an uncertain 2024 during which Jewiss’ promising early career, which included British F4 and Porsche Carrera Cup GB titles, appeared to stall.
He joins the likes of Sandy Mitchell, who last year became one of only two Allan Simonsen Award recipients, Dan Harper, Jonny Adam, Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims on the trophy’s roll of honour.
“It’s been a rollercoaster two years, so to stand here at the end of it all as British GT champion and the Allan Simonsen Award winner is a little bit surreal,” he said. “A lot of previous recipients – and there are some amazing names on the list – knew, raced against or were friends with Allan, but I was only 10 when he lost his life at Le Mans. To be honest it’s not something that I remember happening, but everyone I’ve spoken to speaks very highly of him and he was obviously a legend in the British GT paddock. So yes, I’m very proud to join the list of winners, and hopefully – like the GT3 title – it’s something I can defend next year.”
The top three crews from each British GT classification were invited to attend the SRO Awards which gathered champions and representatives from across four continents.
Marvin Kirchhöfer and Charlie Robertson were also recognised as British GT’s fastest GT3 and GT4 drivers. The award, supported by Sunoco, is based on the number of fastest race laps set during the season.
The evening also presented an opportunity for SRO Motorsports Group to celebrate the essential partnerships that it enjoys around the world. The distinguished guests included Pierre Fillon (President of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest); Frédéric Lequien (CEO of the FIA World Endurance Championship); Masaaki Bandoh (President of Super GT); Thomas Voss (ADAC Motorsport Director); and representatives from the many series that run categories and services under licence from SRO.
The 2026 British GT Championship kicks off at Silverstone on April 25/26.
