The 2025 British GT Championship is roaring back to life at Donington Park this weekend with a grid that is slightly thinner than in previous years but packed with former champions and race winners looking to add some more glory to their CVs. 

Ahead of the season kicking off at a new look opening venue – Donington swapping out for Oulton Park to ease in the class of 2025 – we take a look through the 26 runners and riders set to do battle across Britain and Belgium. 

GT3

One of the reigning champions is back as Rob Collard returns with the #1 on his Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, but has a new teammate this season as Hugo Cook – a race winner in GT Cup and pace-setter in British GT in a family-run Audi R8 – elects to join one of the championship’s historic form teams. 

There’s a change immediately, though, as a medical operation for Collard means the double-champ is missing the season opener. His seat is being kept warm by Matt Topham for the opening round – new to the Lamborghini but definitely experienced in the ways of GT3 racing.

Barwell’s second Huracán is a return for Sandy Mitchell and Alex Martin – the pair favourites, in our opinion, for the title. Although, if they do go all the way it would be Martin on top by himself as other commitments for Mitchell – as a Lamborghini factory driver – means Patrick Kujala will be playing the role of super sub at a couple of rounds this season. 

The two Lamborghinis add to one of the most varied GT3 grids in a recent memory with five other manufacturers adding spice to the field. The most unique of which is the debut of the Honda NSX GT3 Evo II. Bridger Motorsport is bringing one of the rarer examples of sportscar machinery with former Ginetta racer Luke Garlick and Chun Cheong Ip getting behind the wheel of an entry that will be watched with curiosity. 

There’s just one car representing Stuttgart, but it’s a much-welcomed return to Porsche as Team Parker Racing brings a 911 GT3 R (992) for Nick Jones. A familiar face in the paddock, Jones is back after a spell in the Le Mans Cup and he’s bringing a new face to join him as a Pro with Sven Müller coming across from that European campaign to sample British circuits for the first time. 

Speaking of welcome returns, Jonny Adam’s bid for a fifth British GT crown is on as he resumes what was an increasingly rapid partnership with Giacomo Petrobelli in the Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage. Also in an Aston is Andrew Howard who brings back his Beechdean AMR Vantage alongside Tom Wood, the fastest lap-setting debutant who impressed on his step up from Radical racing. 

Compared to previous years, there’s a relatively surprising reduction to three Mercedes-AMG GT3s. Two of those come from 2 Seas Motorsport, where Maxi Götz and Kevin Tse look to convert their increasing pace and knowledge of how to haul the three-pointed star around at the sharp-end of the field into a concerted title challenge. 

After a strong season in GT4 last year, Charles Dawson steps up from the smaller to the bigger AMG as he settles into the second 2 Seas car alongside 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup champion Kiern Jewiss who is getting set for his first British GT campaign. 

Certainly not preparing for a maiden season in the championship – quite the opposite – is Richard and Sam Neary. The father-and-son duo are back in their slightly less green machine as Team Abba Racing gets set for a Pro-Am campaign as Sam gets promoted to Gold ahead of this 33rd British GT season they’ll be targeting as a silverware-packed campaign. 

Rounding out the grid for Donington Park are five McLaren 720S GT3s, a number of which feature entirely new crews or slight tweaks compared to 2024. 

The most notable addition to the McLaren stable are Mike Price and Callum Macleod who’ve traded their Mercedes for a 720S run by Optimum Motorsport – the team that knows how to prepare a front-running machine. 

Optimum’s second entry mixes familiar with fresh as Morgan Tillbrook returns with a new teammate – Marvin Kirchhöfer. The German took a pair of podiums in his last British GT stint between 2022 & 2023 and will be aiming to add to that this year with Tillbrook, who races without former co-driver Marcus Clutton for the first time in the series. 

Clutton isn’t missing from the championship though, as he’s moved across to Orange Racing with JMH and continuing what is a blossoming partnership with Simon Orange. The pair have raced together in the Asian Le Mans Series and scored wins in the latest GT Winter Series campaign and will be looking to start strong this weekend. 

On the topic of starting strong, Mark Smith will be looking to convert his remarkable 0.024sec victory in GT Cup’s thrilling first 100-minute race at Donington Park last Sunday into British GT success in an unchanged Paddock Motorsport line-up alongside Martin Plowman. 

Also unchanged is Greystone GT’s Andrey Borodin and Olli Webb who make a return to Britain after a season of International GT Open action. 

GT4

The junior class has had a slight dip in numbers and variety compared to previous seasons, with Acadmey Motorsport’s pair of Ford Mustangs a notable absence from the grid after a long tenure in British GT4. There’s also no Ginettas in the field either, a rare sight compared to the last few years. That said, while the variety has disappeared to an extent, the quality certainly hasn’t with multiple race winners and rising stars making up an entry that is sure to provide entertainment.

The biggest surprise comes at Team Parker, which is running a Merceses-AMG GT4 for Jon Currie – familiar to watchers of GT Cup – and the man with the most wins in British GT history, Phil Keen. The latter marks his return to the GT4 ranks for the first time since 2012, when he took on the Snetterton double-header in a Complete Racing Aston Martin Vantage. 

Speaking of race winners, the second Parker AMG has secured another GT3 ace in Seb Morris who continues his run in the GT4 category but this year is alongside Ed McDermott, who has shown more than a few sparks of front-running pace in his British GT tenure to date. The pair will only be taking part in the GT4 Endurance Cup, because of McDermott’s business commitments, meaning we’ll see them at both Donington races as well Silverstone and Spa. 

Elsewhere, Mahiki Racing has expanded to three Lotus Emira GT4s to its ranks, and taken on erstwhile SRO commentator – and of course British GT race winner – Joe Osborne as team manager. To start things off, 2018 British GT4 champion Jack Mitchell makes a welcome return to the championship where he’ll be joining up with Stephen Lake – the latter having had a season of getting to grips with the quick but sometimes fragile Emira.

Also adding to his debut season in the Lotus is Ian Duggan and he will be joined by a familiar face as he links up with his co-driver from 2023 Joe Wheeler, who took a year out from racing in British GT in 2024.

The final entry for Mahiki is a Silver Cup entry. The first driver is someone who is known to British GT in the shape of Josh Miller, who is returning after a year racing in French GT4 and the GT4 European Series with Mirage Racing, and the other – making his conversion from single-seaters – is Aiden Neate, son of ex-BTCC racer Andy. 

McLaren is the only other manufacturer with a trio of entries on the grid, with two of those coming from reigning champs Optimum Motorsport. The first entry includes current champion Jack Brown looking to do a rare double of securing the GT4 title with both a Silver Cup and a Pro-Am teammate. He’s got the first, with Zac Meakin, and now he’s gunning for the second alongside Marc Warren, who transfers from the now defunct Forsetti Motorsport programme to continue a british GT campaign that included four podiums last season.

Optimum’s second entry is the third season in a row this pair has joined forces, as Harry George and Luca Hopkinson move from another team no longer on the grid – RAM Racing – and swap Mercedes-AMG for McLaren Artura as they look to hit some form. 

The final Artura comes with Jolt Racing’s move to the Endurance Cup sub-category, as Rupert Williams and John Ingram look to build on a debut GT Cup season in 2024 in a McLaren 570S GT4. 

Two more Endurance Cup entries include manufacturers with only one representative in the field. A name a lot of British motorsport fans will be familiar with, Rob Boston Racing brings a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS ClubSport for Jamie Orton – back after two seasons away – and Will Burns, who switches back to British GT after a spell in Porsche Carrera Cup GB.

Aston Martin has just the one representative with MKH Racing’s Stuart Hall and Peter Montague continuing their partnership onboard a Vantage GT4 Evo for the four race weekends. 

Century Motorsport rounds out the field, with it’s BMW M4 GT4 Evo back out to play with the returning duo of Charlie Robertson and Ravi Ramyead, and it’s also a welcome return to Chris Salkeld. He’s joined by one of those rising stars who so often make their name in GT4 before heading onwards to even bigger things in sportscar racing, this time it’s Branden Templeton. The GB4 race winner made his car debut last season and is switching from single-seaters into something significantly more substantial.