+ Dawson and Jewiss lead four-way GT3 showdown
+ Little between GT4’s top contenders Ramyead/Robertson and Warren/Brown
+ Provisional entry list: #DoningtonDecider
British GT returns to Donington Park for 2025’s title decider this Sunday some 182 days after the same venue kicked off Season 33.
2 Seas’ Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss head the cast of GT3’s four remaining outright and Pro-Am contenders, while three crews can clinch GT4’s crown. Just 3.5 points separate leaders Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson (Century Motorsport) from Marc Warren and Jack Brown (Optimum Motorsport) who are also fighting for Pro-Am honours.
GT3’s Silver-Am title will be won by either Andrew Howard and Tom Wood (Beechdean AMR) or Johnny Ip (Bridger Motorsport), while Luca Hopkinson and Harry George (Optimum) are in pole position to clinch GT4’s Silver spoils.
2 Seas and Optimum are also on the verge of claiming their respective teams’ championship.
However, one title has already been decided: Ed McDermott and Seb Morris (Team Parker Racing) are the inaugural GT4 Endurance Cup champions. Their points’ total cannot be beaten now that nearest rivals Jamie Orton and Will Burns are officially absent from Donington.
British GT’s #DoningtonDecider is live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and Sky Sports F1 at 13:15 BST this Sunday.
GT3: DAWSON AND JEWISS HOLD ALL THE ACES
#DoningtonDecider is seldom straightforward, and especially for the championship leaders. This race has a habit of springing surprises, but surely – SURELY?! – this one will be different for Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss who have topped 2025’s GT3 standings since winning at the same venue back in early April.
A 28.5-point lead is the largest-ever at this stage of a GT3-era season, while 13 is the greatest number to be overturned during the same class’ finale. What’s more, all three of their rivals must win to have any chance.
In short, 2 Seas’ #42 Mercedes-AMG should be home and hosed. It has certainly been the most consistent performer across this year’s eight races and claimed a third win of the campaign last time out at Brands Hatch.
But that could also be the chink in Dawson and Jewiss’ seemingly impenetrable armour. Maximum points equal the maximum 20 seconds of Compensation Time served during the crew’s mandatory pitstop, which has the potential to trigger a typically fraught #DoningtonDecider.
Of course, that also depends on their rivals being in position to take advantage. Blackthorn’s Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam start level on points with Morgan Tillbrook and Marvin Kirchhöfer but crucially race without Compensation Time.
Adam is no stranger to overturning a deficit at the Decider. He did so en route to winning three of his four titles, albeit when the margins were significantly smaller.
Optimum’s McLaren also starts 28.5 points behind Dawson and Jewiss but has +15 seconds to contend with during its pitstop. It’s a tall order but if Tillbrook/Kirchhöfer do win then, just like Petrobelli/Adam, championship glory will hinge on 2 Seas’ leading duo finishing eighth or lower.
The odds of that happening are reasonably long. But they’re even longer for this year’s fourth contenders, Kevin Tse and Maximilian Götz, who line up 36.5 points behind their team-mates. Only a victory plus Dawson/Jewiss non-scoring will hand them the title.
GT3’s Pro-Am crown, meanwhile, will likely go to the overall champions. Dawson and Jewiss top the class by 29 points with 37.5 still available.
2 Seas also controls the teams’ championship thanks to its 56-point advantage over Barwell. Its Lamborghinis must win and finish second or third to have any hope of remaining champions.
Silver-Am is also still undecided. However, Andrew Howard and Tom Wood need only to be classified to deny Johnny Ip who starts 14 points adrift. The two crews have four class wins apiece but, curiously, they have been split between endurance (Beechdean) and sprint (Bridger) races. And with Donington one of the former, the advantage would appear to lie with the table topping Vantage.
Elsewhere, the Spirit of Race Ferrari returns to British GT action after missing Brands Hatch due to clashing European Le Mans Series commitments, Mahiki makes its senior class debut with McLaren plus GT4 graduates Steven Lake and Josh Miller, Mike Price is back behind the wheel of Optimum’s #3 720S, and Matt Topham deputises for Simon Orange.
There’s also a significant one-off entry in the shape of 2023 champion Darren Leung and Nick Yelloly who join forces in a second Blackthorn Aston Martin. Leung won his first British GT3 race at Donington before claiming the title at the same venue 12 months later. He now competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship and GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS but found space to make a winning domestic return at the Silverstone 500 earlier this year. That success sees his Vantage serve the maximum Compensation Time on Sunday.
The same Aston, as well as Orange/JMH and Mahiki McLarens, are not eligible to score points at Donington.
GT4: CENTURY AND OPTIMUM’S SEASON-LONG SCRAP TO BE DECIDED
Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson have gone toe to toe with Marc Warren and Jack Brown all year long, so it’s entirely appropriate that 2025’s standout entries head to Donington separated by just 3.5 points at the top of GT4’s overall standings.
Optimum’s McLaren has been the more consistent and claimed more wins but finds itself behind for the first time this season after scoring just eight points in the last two races. By contrast, Century’s BMW has bagged 52 – a combination of Snetterton Race 2 victory and second place at Brands Hatch.
However, that late-season surge – and specifically the 15 seconds of Compensation Time Ramyead/Robertson must serve on Sunday – also leaves rivals Warren and Brown with a theoretical advantage. Anywhere in the top three would be enough to overturn the deficit assuming the #71 BMW finishes behind.
Both crews are also looking to re-write British GT history. No Pro-Am combination has won GT4’s overall crown since 2016, while Brown would become the class’ first two-time outright champion. He’s also just one victory away from breaking the wins record jointly held by Nigel Moore.
Century is also looking to extend a remarkable record for winning titles in the first year of BMW’s GT4 models, as it did in 2018, 2021 and 2023. The current M4 Evo debuted at the start of this season.
But there is one more crew who can still snatch the title. Granted, Brands Hatch winners Luca Hopkinson and Harry George face an uphill battle thanks to their maximum Compensation Time, extra Silver handicap and 35.5-point starting deficit! However, hope springs eternal down at Optimum whose #17 McLaren has suffered the lion’s share of bad luck this year. Indeed, its early Donington DNF in April after the car started from the front row characterised a season of what-ifs for the young duo who finally ended Ramyead, Robertson, Warren and Brown’s GT4 stranglehold last time out.
The overall contenders’ respective squads are also locked in battle for the Silver and teams’ championships. 33 points separate them in the latter, suggesting Optimum will retain its crown, but George/Hopkinson start 11 points clear of Chris Salkeld and Branden Templeton whose race isn’t hampered by extra Compensation Time.
Aside from the championship battles, Mahiki’s GT3 move leaves two of the team’s Ginettas on Donington’s GT4 entry list. Luke Garlick is again paired with Blake Angliss in a car that could take points away from both Silver title contenders, while James Townsend joins Joe Wheeler in the other G56.
Newly crowned champions Ed McDermott and Seb Morris will battle Jolt’s Rupert Williams and John Ingram for Endurance Cup spoils. The latter’s chances are bolstered by the 15 seconds of Compensation Time that the Mercedes-AMG collected during its last outing at Spa.
And MKH Racing’s Aston Martin also returns, albeit with a new line-up in the shape of Michael Orant and Owen Hizzey.
DONINGTON PARK TIMETABLE
THURSDAY 2 OCTOBER
10:55 – 11:50: Test 1
13:35 – 14:30: Test 2
15:45 – 16:40: Test 3
SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER
09:40 – 10:40: Free Practice
12:00 – 13:00: Pre-Qualifying
15:50 – 16:00: Qualifying 1 (GT3)
16:04 – 16:14: Qualifying 2 (GT3)
16:18 – 16:28: Qualifying 3 (GT4)
16:33 – 16:43: Qualifying 4 (GT4)
SUNDAY 5 OCTOBER
10:10 – 10:25: Warm-up
11:00 – 11:30: Paddock autograph session
13:15 – 15:15: Race
LAP RECORDS
GT3 – 1m24.977s – Euan Hankey – RACE LAB McLaren 720S – 2023
GT4 – 1m32.863s – Charles Clark – Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura – 2023
PITSTOP SPECIFICS – TWO-HOUR RACE
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.
PITSTOP COMPENSATION TIME
20s - #42 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG (GT3) + #6 Blackthorn Aston Martin (GT3) + #17 Optimum Motorsport McLaren (GT4)
15s - #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren (GT3) + 71 Century Motorsport BMW (GT4) + #12 Team Parker Mercedes-AMG (GT4)
10s - #1 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan (GT3) + #30 Team Parker Mercedes-AMG (GT4)
Mandatory Pitstop Times (pit-in to pit-out)
GT3: 115s | GT4: 145s
All GT4 Silver Cup entries must serve an additional 24s during their mandatory driver changes and carry 25kg of ballast.
