+ Orange/JMH McLaren triumphant despite starting 21.5 points behind
+ Tillbrook/Barnicoat and Beeson/Clark complete 2026’s final podium
+ Martin/Waberski, Barwell and Collard also crowned champions
+ Waberski beats Clark to SRO GT Academy’s 24 Hours of Spa prize drive
+ Brands Hatch result
Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton claimed their first victory of the season and overturned a record points deficit to become British GT3 champions at the #BattleOfBrands.
Five contenders remained in mathematical contention before the finale where Orange’s excellent opening stint and an uncharacteristic mistake from Rob Collard gave Clutton a largely stress-free run to both the chequered flag and drivers’ title despite starting the day 21.5 points behind Barwell’s #63 Lamborghini.
What’s more, Orange Racing by JMH finally ended McLaren’s long wait for a senior class British GT crown. Steve O’Rourke and Tim Sugden were Woking’s last champions when they triumphed with EMKA Racing’s F1 GTR LT in 1998.
Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat emerged as the only other credible championship threat after Collard spun out of the lead just before the pitstops. But Optimum’s McLaren had too much time to make up after the driver changes to ever seriously worry Clutton who took the chequered flag 16.5s clear.
McLarens initially locked out the overall podium before a technical infringement saw Optimum’s Marc Warren and Jack Brown stripped of third post-race. Jonathon Beeson and Charles Clark therefore completed the final overall rostrum of 2026 in Century’s BMW, which also inherited Silver-Am victory.
However, that wasn’t enough to overturn their class points deficit to Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski who battled to fourth. As well as wrapping up Silver-Am, Waberski’s individual performances across the season helped him win British GT’s fully funded SRO GT Academy prize drive at next year’s 24 Hours of Spa. Just two points separated him from Clark in the final reckoning.
Barwell might have missed out on the drivers’ championship but it still scored sufficiently to win its eighth teams’ crown. Collard also clinched the new-for-2026 Masters title reserved for GT3’s best driver aged 50 or over.
THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT. THE FUTURE’S ORANGE
In hindsight, Orange and Clutton becoming champions should not have come as a complete surprise. After all, Compensation Time applied to both cars starting ahead of them, meaning even a reasonable opening stint would likely put them in prime position to at least claim victory if not the title.
Collard’s mission, meanwhile, was clear: pass pole man Kevin Tse at the start and build a sufficient advantage over his title rivals for co-driver Hugo Cook to resume with their championship lead intact.
Part 1 was completed with aplomb thanks to a brilliant move around 2 Seas’ Mercedes-AMG into Paddock Hill that was wrapped up as the field braked for Druids. He and Orange – who took second when Tse ran wide at Stirling’s – then broke free together as the gap back to title rivals Tillbrook and Martin extended a little beyond the magical 20 seconds to be served in the pits.
Orange was the only driver able to live with Collard’s pace and frequently ran within a second of the Lamborghini as the pair negotiated GT4 traffic. Crucially, though, the Huracan’s drivers would remain on course for the championship by rejoining second behind the McLaren. And that appeared to be the most likely outcome as the race ticked past 55 minutes.
But moments later at Sheene Curve the course of this year’s championship changed when Collard lost control and slid into the gravel. By the time he was retrieved under FCY conditions Barwell’s championship hopes were gone.
Orange and Clutton were the chief benefactors. Winning the race would now be enough to not only jump Tillbrook/Barnicoat and Martin/Waberski but also Collard/Cook. They had more than 20 seconds in hand as the field made its mandatory pitstops, and duly reeled off the laps thereafter en route to British GT history.
They benefitted a little from Barnicoat rejoining in fourth behind Brown – whose co-driver Warren had jumped Tillbrook just before the pitstops – and Tse’s co-driver Chris Lulham. The Mercedes-AMG, which was later penalised for a pitstop infringement, lost third to Barnicoat on the out-lap, which then saw the Optimum McLarens running second and third before Brown moved aside.
21 seconds now separated Barnicoat and Clutton with 30 minutes remaining, far too few as it turned out to alter the championship outcome.
Further back, Clark eventually won his entertaining scrap with Waberski, which ultimately resulted in the BMW gaining third overall post-race.
Andrew Howard finished fifth, and scored a Pro-Am podium with Beechdean co-driver Ross Gunn, on his 157th and final British GT start, while Tse and Lulham completed the top six from Mike Price and Callum Macleod (Optimum) and debutant Todd Kingsford and Aaron Walker (2 Seas).
British GT’s Team of the Weekend was won by Paddock Motorsport whose new Porsche was only completed in the early hours of Saturday morning following a week-long logistical adventure across the continent.
All eyes now turn to 2027 and Snetterton, which hosts the opening round of British GT’s 35th season on April 10/11.
