+ Full-season and guest entries vying for historic RAC Trophy
+ Entry list: Silverstone 500
British GT is back! And Season 34 begins in style with the blue riband Silverstone 500 this weekend.
It’s the first time a campaign has started at the series’ three-hour showpiece, while the Home of British Motor Racing last hosted the opening round all the way back in 2001 when a Lister Storm beat Chrysler Vipers, Marcos Mantaras and TVR Cerbera Speed 12s.
GT3 became British GT’s de facto senior class five years later. The ruleset celebrates its 20th anniversary this season after Silverstone staged the very first race – the opening round of 2006’s FIA GT3 European Championship – on May 6/7.
18 such cars are vying for overall victory and the historic 1932 RAC Trophy on Sunday. Among them are last year’s winners Darren Leung and Dan Harper plus reigning British GT champions Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss, as well as a further 11 GT4 entries.
As ever, fans can follow British GT’s strategy-filled 500km race live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and official app, as well as Sky Sports F1 in the UK. Pre-race build-up will, weather permitting, feature the Red Devils Parachute Display Team which is due to perform over and then land on the grid before the start.
GT3: LEUNG AND HARPER AT THE DOUBLE?
Strategy always plays a significant role at the 500 where three mandatory driver changes but no minimum stint length often leaves fans guessing until the final few laps.
15 full-season entries are due to take the start, but it’s two of the guest crews that perhaps initially line up as favourites. Despite both making five pitstops, just 0.6s separated winners Leung/Harper (Paradine) from Dawson/Jewiss (2 Seas) at Silverstone last year. Neither are eligible to score points this time around but they will surely be in contention given their previous history.
Indeed, Leung and Harper have only known victory together at Silverstone where they also won en route to the 2023 title. A third win would take them one clear of the only other driver with multiple 500 GT3 victories: Sandy Mitchell.
Morgan Tillbrook finished third behind the BMW and Mercedes-AMG last season and returns with what is likely to be Optimum’s best shot of a first outright victory at the 500. His former co-driver Marvin Kirchhöfer set new qualifying and race lap records 12 months ago so the McLaren should have what it takes in terms of pace, while the German’s replacement – Ben Barnicoat – is one of the world’s fastest GT drivers.
New GT3 team-mate Jack Brown has won this race twice in the GT4 class with Optimum and now graduates to the big league alongside fellow reigning class champion Marc Warren. Their initial focus will be on securing maximum points in Silver-Am, a class with eight entries this weekend.
They include the likes of Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski who feature amongst Barwell’s three-car effort. With Lamborghini’s new Temerario imminent, the Huracan begins its British GT farewell tour at Silverstone – a circuit where it last won in 2020 when Mitchell sealed the title with Rob Collard. Now the latter returns as one of this season’s early championship favourites alongside 2025 runner-up Hugo Cook.
It's testament to his longevity that Andrew Howard achieved his only Silverstone victory in 2011 – the final edition before switching to the 500’s three-hour format. What’s more, that win was achieved with the Aston Martin DBRS9, one of the first cars to be homologated to the original GT3 ruleset. Fast forward 15 years and the two-time champion is back with Beechdean and Ross Gunn, who claimed GT4 victory at the 500 during his title-winning 2015 season.
Theirs is the sole Vantage entered, a number shared by Ferrari which is relying on Rodin to claim its maiden 500 win. The single-seater powerhouse added a shock GT programme to its litany of projects over the winter but has two drivers – Cameron Campbell and Joshua Buchan – with little experience of Silverstone.
The same does not apply to Kevin Tse and Ben Green who are likely to be amongst this year’s championship contenders. The former British GT4 runner-up is now considered one of the fastest non-factory drivers in global GT racing, while Tse has scored four wins over the last two years with 2 Seas and Mercedes-AMG.
Elsewhere, five young Silver-graded drivers – Aaron Walker (2 Seas), Josh Rowledge (Mahiki), Luke Garlick (Mahiki), Waberski and former GT4 500 winner Charles Clark (Century) – are all eligible to score SRO GT Academy points. The best performer at the end of the season will win a fully funded seat at the 2027 CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
GT4: SEASON OPENER IMPOSSIBLE TO PREDICT
Five GT4 manufacturers tackle the 500 this year, but with the reigning champions, runners-up and Silverstone winners moving on it’s tough to settle on an obvious favourite either for this weekend or the season as a whole.
Optimum’s recent record suggests the McLaren shared by debutant Josh Stanton and 2025 Silver champion Luca Hopkinson will be in the mix. The same goes for sophomore racer Branden Templeton and Jack Collins whose ‘Chomp’ dragon liveried BMW – run by last year’s 500 winners, Century – will certainly be a crowd favourite.
Aston Martin F1 Ambassador Jessica Hawkins joins Will Orton in an MK Racing Vantage that has sufficient experience and speed behind the wheel to mount a serious title assault. Hawkins is also chasing a little bit of British GT history this weekend: Jamie Chadwick remains the only woman to have won the 500’s GT3 or GT4 category.
Mahiki was the team to beat at Silverstone last year before a mechanical issue sidelined its lead Lotus. Now armed with the McLaren Artura – a car with two 500 wins – the team, along with Revie Lake and Blake Angliss, will be aiming to add a maiden victory to its CV.
Debutants Innovation Racing, whose Ginetta is shared by Thomas Holland and Hadley Simpson, complete the Silver class contenders.
The 500’s strategic format tends to favour Pro-Am crews, however, and there are six of those contesting Round 1.
The eye is immediately drawn to four-time BTCC champion Colin Turkington who shares WSR Flexifly’s BMW with historic rally champion Ernie Graham. Their combined British GT bow will be one of Silverstone’s primary talking points.
But in terms of success at Silverstone it’s tough to look beyond Darren Turner who has two 500 GT4 wins to his name with Aston Martin. Debutants Grange Racing with FSR and Daniel Lavery will benefit hugely from his experience of the event and Vantage.
Jack Mitchell is another former winner. He triumphed en route to the 2018 GT4 crown and shares Toro Verde’s G56 with Ginetta GT Am champion Luke Shaw, while the team’s other entry – a Cayman – pairs returnee Ian Duggan with Tom Bradshaw who claimed the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB title last season.
Like WSR Flexifly, GBR Stratton has a BTCC race winner in its Aston Martin. Ronan Pearson makes the switch from tin tops with John Hartshorne, who made his British GT debut all the way back in 2002. James Townsend and Joe Wheeler (Townsend Racing powered by Fox Motorsport) complete GT4’s runners and riders.
SILVERSTONE 500 TIMETABLE
FRIDAY 24 APRIL
13:25 – 14:25: Test 1
16:25 – 17:25: Test 2
SATURDAY 25 APRIL
09:30 – 10:30: Free Practice
12:15 – 13:15: Pre-Qualifying
15:45 – 16:25: Qualifying 1 (GT3)
15:59 – 16:39: Qualifying 2 (GT3)
16:13 – 16:53: Qualifying 3 (GT4)
16:28 – 17:08: Qualifying 4 (GT4)
SUNDAY 26 APRIL
09:40 – 09:55: Warm-up
13:00 – 16:00: Race
LAP RECORDS
GT3 – 1m58.193s – Marvin Kirchhöfer – Optimum McLaren 720S GT3 Evo – 2025
GT4 – 2m09.843s – Charlie Robertson – Century BMW M4 GT4 Evo – 2025
PITSTOP SPECIFICS – THREE-HOUR RACES
Three driver changes must occur during the three hours. There are no pitstop windows but each driver cannot exceed 65 minutes of continuous drive time and 100 minutes cumulative drive time. There is no additional Pitstop Compensation Time to serve at Round 1.
Mandatory Pitstop Times (pit-in to pit-out)
GT3: 115s | GT4: 145s
All GT4 Silver Cup entries must serve an additional six seconds during each mandatory driver change.
