A Bank Holiday Monday double-header at Oulton Park delivered drama across both classes, as Barwell Motorsport and Optimum Motorsport shared the GT3 honours while Century Motorsport and Grange Racing by FSR celebrated historic maiden victories in GT4.
Race 1: Collard and Cook hold firm for Barwell landmark
Rob Collard and Hugo Cook brought home the #63 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 to claim victory in Race 1, edging out the Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin of Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn by just 0.235 seconds at the flag. The result marked a tenth win from 21 races for Barwell with the Huracan at Oulton Park, and extended Collard's personal run to three consecutive victories at the Cheshire circuit.
Howard had looked set to challenge after taking pole position on Saturday, leading the field into Old Hall before Collard swept around the outside to establish a nine-second cushion through the opening stint. Cook inherited the lead after the mandatory pitstops and, while Gunn closed in steadily during the second half of the race, a Safety Car period triggered by contact at Druids only brought the Aston Martin closer without providing the decisive opportunity. On the final lap, GT4 traffic briefly gave Beechdean a window, but Cook resisted to seal the result. Optimum Motorsport's Marc Warren and Jack Brown completed the GT3 overall podium in third, simultaneously taking their maiden Silver-Am class win.
Behind the leading trio, Martin Plowman and Mark Smith delivered a career-best British GT result in fourth for Paddock Motorsport's McLaren, while Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski completed the top five for Barwell's sister Lamborghini despite carrying Compensation Time from their Silverstone result. Morgan Tillbrook, who had been caught up in first-lap contact, fought back impressively from tenth to seventh through the second stint alongside Ben Barnicoat.
Race 1 GT4: Chomp the dragon flies to Century's first win
The GT4 category produced one of the stories of the day as Century Motorsport's fan-favourite dragon-liveried BMW M4 GT4 Evo, affectionately known as Chomp, secured a maiden class victory for Jack Collins and Branden Templeton. The result was not without incident. Collins started from the outside of the front row but was forced onto the grass at turn one to avoid a spinning GT3 car, dropping from second to fifth in the opening exchanges.
Collins clawed his way back through the order to third before a dramatic Full Course Yellow period, triggered when Toro Verde's Ginetta was spun into the barriers, transformed the race. With the timing of their pitstop perfectly aligned with the caution, Templeton emerged from the pits in the lead and never relinquished it, resisting Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton's MK Racing Aston Martin by 0.9 seconds across the final laps. Hadley Simpson and Thomas Holland completed the podium for Innovation Racing, despite serving 25 seconds of additional pitstop time following their Silverstone victory. Luke Shaw and Jack Mitchell rounded out the top five and claimed Pro-Am honours for Toro Verde.
Race 2: Tillbrook and Barnicoat open Optimum's winning account
Race 2 belonged to Optimum Motorsport as Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat finally converted their early-season pace into a first win of the 2026 campaign. Barnicoat ran second to Howard through the opening stint, content to bank time while the Beechdean Aston Martin ran down seven seconds of additional pitstop time. Tillbrook inherited the lead after the stops and, while Howard, Kevin Tse and Simon Orange briefly made it a four-way battle for the front, a combination of lapped traffic and measured defending allowed the McLaren to ease clear and take the chequered flag 3.75 seconds ahead.
Howard and Gunn completed their second runner-up finish of the Bank Holiday to extend their championship lead, while Kevin Tse and Ben Green rounded out the podium for 2 Seas Motorsport, holding off the Orange/JMH McLaren in a close four-way battle. Rob Collard and Hugo Cook salvaged fourth for Barwell despite their maximum Compensation Time dropping them from podium contention, ahead of Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski. The Orange/JMH entry of Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton was subsequently penalised 30 seconds for overtaking under yellow flags and dropped to ninth. Century's BMW was also handed a drive-through penalty for a pitstop infringement.
Race 2 GT4: Lavery holds his nerve in last-lap thriller
The GT4 contest produced a breathless finale as Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner scored their maiden victory for Grange Racing by FSR in what amounted to a last-gasp finish. For much of the race, Toro Verde appeared destined for a second successive podium after Jack Mitchell bolted from pole to build a 6.5-second advantage, with Luke Shaw extending the gap further through the second stint. However, a steering failure heading into Lodge with less than 20 minutes remaining sent Shaw helplessly into the gravel and handed the lead to Lavery.
What followed was a nail-biting conclusion. Jessica Hawkins hunted Lavery through the final laps, eroding a six-second gap with the two Aston Martin Vantages nose to tail on the approach to the final corners. When Lavery dipped a wheel onto the grass exiting Knickerbrook and lost momentum, Hawkins had her chance, running side by side with the Grange car up Clay Hill towards Druids on the final lap. Lavery did just enough, holding his line to cross the line 0.4 seconds clear. Their victory made it three different winning manufacturers across the opening four GT4 races of 2026.
Hawkins and Will Orton collected maximum Silver points in second to keep their championship challenge alive, while Holland and Simpson completed the podium for Innovation Racing following a late battle with the Century BMW of Race 1 winners Templeton and Collins. James Townsend and Joe Wheeler took sixth overall for Townsend Racing powered by Fox Motorsport despite a stop-go penalty, while the WSR FlexiFly BMW of Ernie Graham and Colin Turkington was disqualified.
Championship standings
Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn head the GT3 Drivers' Championship on 54 points following their pair of second-place finishes at Oulton, with consistent points across all three rounds so far proving the foundations of a solid title challenge. Barnicoat and Tillbrook sit third on 46 points, three behind Jonathon Beeson and Charles Clark, after their Race 2 victory. Barwell's Collard and Cook move to fifth on 37 points.
In GT4, Thomas Holland and Hadley Simpson retain the championship lead, but Hawkins and Orton have closed to within 4.5 points following a pair of podiums at Oulton Park. Beechdean Motorsport were named British GT's team of the weekend after qualifying dominance and two overall podiums, with Gunn also claiming both fastest lap honours across the Bank Holiday.
Next up: Spa-Francorchamps
The championship heads to Belgium on 20-21 June for the first two-hour endurance contest of the 2026 season at Spa-Francorchamps, which will also run in conjunction with the Championnat de France FFSA GT. With multiple race winners across both classes already and a GT3 standings battle that remains tightly packed, the iconic Ardennes circuit promises to be another defining chapter in what is shaping up to be a compelling campaign.
