+ GT3 victory for Tillbrook and Barnicoat
+ Hawkins’ last lap assault not enough to dislodge Lavery and Turner
+ Result: Oulton Park Race 2
Optimum’s Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat opened their 2026 British GT Championship account by ultimately claiming a comfortable victory in Race 2 at Oulton Park where Daniel Lavery and Grange Racing with FSR scored their maiden GT4 wins along with Darren Turner.
The victorious McLaren took the chequered flag 3.7s clear of Beechdean’s Aston Martin shared by Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn who now top the drivers’ standings after collecting their second runner-up finish of the Bank Holiday. Kevin Tse and Ben Green’s 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG completed the podium after holding off the Orange/JMH McLaren post-pitstops.
Further back, Jessica Hawkins’ pursuit of Lavery during the second stint almost resulted in MK Racing’s Aston Martin triumphing for the first time this year. But, instead, it was another Vantage that held on to make it three different victorious manufacturers in as many races and become the first Pro-Am entry to win overall this season. Hawkins almost pounced as both cars ran side-by-side up Clay Hill on the final lap but couldn’t quite squeeze around the outside.
A third second place in as many races leaves Hawkins and Will Orton 4.5 points behind GT4 championship leaders Thomas Holland and Hadley Simpson who finished P3.
However, all owe their positions to Toro Verde’s misfortune. The Ginetta shared by Luke Shaw and Jack Mitchell enjoyed a commanding lead before a steering failure with less than 20 minutes left ended the pair’s chances at Lodge.
Meanwhile, qualifying dominance and two overall podiums, as well as Gunn claiming both fastest laps, resulted in Beechdean winning British GT’s team of the weekend award.
GT3: OPTIMUM BACK ON TOP
Barnicoat started second alongside pole-man Gunn but was content to play second fiddle to the Aston Martin, which had seven additional seconds to serve during its pitstop, throughout the first stint.
In truth, the top two were in a race of their own out front before pitting together with a 10-second advantage over Hugo Cook whose own maximum Compensation Time subsequently dropped Barwell’s Race 1-winning Lamborghini out of podium contention.
Sure enough, Tillbrook rejoined ahead of Howard who then benefitted enormously from a line of GT4 cars compromising the race leader.
Beechdean weren’t the only ones to benefit, however. Tse and Simon Orange rejoined a few seconds further back but soon made it a four-way battle for the lead. The quartet circulated together for a time before a combination of lapped traffic and Howard defending from the chasing Mercedes-AMG allowed Tillbrook to establish a small but crucial buffer back to the chasing pack.
Despite their close proximity, Howard, Tse and Orange never swapped places over the final 20 minutes and ultimately crossed the line separated by two seconds.
Rob Collard’s damage limitation drive helped the Lamborghini he shares with Cook initially lead a Barwell five-six from Silver-Am winners Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski. That became fourth and fifth post-race when Orange received a 30-second penalty in lieu of a drive-through for overtaking a GT4 car under yellow flags. The entry also featuring Marcus Clutton therefore dropped to ninth behind Optimum’s other McLaren of Marc Warren/Jack Brown, Century’s BMW – which served a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits – and 2 Seas’s second Mercedes-AMG.
GT4: LAVERY DENIES HAWKINS IN LAST LAP THRILLER
Lavery and Turner celebrated a maiden GT4 victory in the Oulton Park finale, but only after their Grange Racing by FSR Aston Martin survived a dramatic late challenge from MK Racing.
Lavery began the final lap just fractions ahead of Hawkins’ rival Vantage, but a slide wide out of Knickerbrook set up a breathless finish as Hawkins took her chance to attack through the final turns. Just 0.4s separated them at the chequered flag.
For much of the race it looked like victory was heading Toro Verde’s way after Mitchell bolted clear from his pole position and built a 6.5s gap before making way for Shaw. Lengthy pitstop Compensation Time for the chasing Silver class runners further extended his advantage, but things went sour when steering failure heading into Lodge sent Shaw helplessly into the gravel with a little less than 20 minutes to go.
That blew the contest wide open and handed the lead to Lavery, who received the car from Turner in fourth but exited the pits second.
Orton had occupied that position early on before Hawkins rejoined third, which then became second when Shaw’s Ginetta retired. Her six-second gap to Lavery was then quickly eroded, leaving the two Astons nose-to-tail as the race entered its final laps.
The gap ebbed and flowed through GT3 traffic, albeit without Lavery ever coming under serious pressure until he dipped a wheel onto the grass exiting Knickerbrook and lost momentum. That gave Hawkins a run up Clay Hill heading towards Druids, but Lavery did just enough to defend the line, emerge ahead and seal the win.
Hawkins and Orton still collected maximum Silver points in second overall by beating Innovation’s Holland and Simpson. The championship leaders completed the overall podium after coming out on top of a superb late battle with the Century BMW driven by Race 1 winners Branden Templeton and Jack Collins, as well as Mahiki’s McLaren of Revie Lake and Blake Angliss.
James Townsend and Joe Wheeler completed the top six despite a stop-go penalty for a short pitstop in their Townsend Racing/Fox Motorsport Aston Martin.
Next up its Spa-Francorchamps, which stages this year’s first two-hour race – featuring both British GT and Championnat de France FFSA GT – on June 20/21.
