GT Cup rolled into Brands Hatch for their second round of the 2025 season with a thrilling weekend on the full GP circuit. Paddock Motorsports Mark Smith continued where he left off from Donington with a brace of overall victories in his McLaren 720s GT3 Evo whilst Archie Clark and Tom Canning maintained their advantage at the top of the standings with two GTH group victories.

Race 1

Smith set about building on his Donington momentum by scoring pole position and leading the field away to open the weekend. From then on, only Peter Erceg in the PB Racing Audi R8 GT3 EvoII could match the pace of Smith, with the pair running nose to tail throughout the first half of the race.

However, once traffic factored into the equation, Smith began to pull clear and built a 9-second margin over the Audi to score his second outright GT Cup victory and his first sprint race win.

Erceg came home a clear second for his best GT Cup result thus far whilst GTC contender, Frazer Fenwick, resumed his great run by finishing third outright and first in GTC, ahead of two GT3 runners in the process.

David Shaw debuted in the G-Cat 991.2 GT3R and brilliantly claimed third in GT3 on his first competitive outing in the car.

GTB went the way of Uber GT’s Porsche 991.2 Cup car courtesy of Bill Caley, with fellow GTB runner, Tom Walpole, suffering damage to his KTM in the latter stages of the race.

GTH once again saw a race-long battle for the top step of the podium with Archie Clark in the Feathers Aston Martin fending off a fired-up Owen Hizzey in the SVG Ginetta. No matter what Hizzey tried, Clark used his racecraft to fend off the more experienced driver, but only just held onto the win by the narrowest of margins.

Hizzey drew alongside exiting Clark Curve for the final time, but the line came just moments too early as Clark pipped him by just 0.042-seconds in yet another photo finish in GT Cup.

Despite a narrow defeat, SVG’s other car clinched GTA honours courtesy of former British GT racer Ian Astley.

Race 2

As with the opening race of the day, it was a clean first lap for all the drivers, and once again, Mark Smith led the field in the opening stages despite a small mistake at Sheene.

David Shaw, meanwhile, was gradually improving his lap times as he settled into his Porsche and ate into Smith’s early advantage. Smith did pit from the race lead but Shaw had closed the gap to just 0.6-seconds when he stopped to hand over to Greg Caton.

Smith pitted shortly afterwards, but Caton’s outlaps managed to secure his place at the front of the field, a position he would not relinquish to the chequered flag, claiming another victory in the 2025 season.

Smith rejoined in second and looked set to take second but for a late call-up by none other than Marcus Clutton saw him take over from Erceg and charge his way up to the back of the McLaren before slicing his way past into Sheene with just 9-minutes remaining.

A move that would ultimately be timed to perfection as the red flags emerged just a minute later after the two Topcats Lamborghinis collided along the Cooper Straight. The resulting barrier damage and tightly packed programme meant that it was the end of the race.

Even worse for Topcats was that the Fenwick / Iain Campbell car was leading in GTC at the time, but due to causing the red flag, they were not classified overall, and the GTC victory went the way of Grahame Tilley and Sennan Fielding in the Triple M Huracan Super Trofeo Evo.

Meanwhile, Innovation Racing’s Ginetta G56 of Simon Griffiths and Hadley Simpson claimed outright honours in GTH with the all-dominating Feathers Aston Martin following behind in second, only 3-seconds behind the Ginetta.

After a tricky first outing at Donington, Anthony Seddon Racing’s Ginetta G55 of Lewis Tindall and Mack Priestwood secured its first group victory, having usurped the SVG BMW M4 in GTA.

Race 3

Smith continued his Saturday form by scoring pole position for Sunday’s endurance race and once again building a lead in the opening stint of the race. However, this time it wasn’t quite so plain sailing for the American.

A puncture on his in-lap forced an unwanted tyre change and therefore a longer pitstop, which ultimately saw his advantage evaporate. Darren Kell meanwhile, in the Track Focused McLaren 720s GT3 Evo, took over the lead thanks to the lengthy stop but had his work cut out trying to keep the black and pink McLaren behind.

Smith immediately went on the offensive, and it wasn’t long before he had reeled in Kell, but catching is one thing, passing is quite another. Or so we thought. Smith decisively made the move exiting Stirling’s and didn’t look back, claiming his second victory of the weekend.

Kell would remain in second for his first podium of the weekend, whilst Erceg built upon his successful Saturday with a third place.

GTC was also a hotly contested race with Topcats Fenwick and Campbell bouncing back from Saturday’s disappointment to reclaim the top step of the podium. But rapidly closing them in was former Seat BTCC driver, James Pickford, in the JMH Huracan Super Trofeo Evo. Pickford, alongside James Morris, ran out of time ultimately and settled for second whilst Tilley and Fielding rounded out the top three, who were covered by just 13-seconds at the flag.

GTH would see an even closer affair. In what had been a great battle between the two teams, Feathers Motorsport and Innovation Racing once again went head to head for group GTH honours, and this time it was the former who took the upper hand.

Simpson started the Ginetta and immediately held the upper hand, plus the extra pit time for Feathers due to their pro driver gifted Griffiths a healthy advantage. However, the aforementioned pro driver is none other than Tom Canning, who knows the Vantage GT4 inside out.

Canning closed the gap, and after several laps of trying, he finally found a way past the stubborn Ginetta in the dying stages to claim a second victory of the weekend. Griffiths came home 0.9-seconds behind with the brand new Oselli Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage rounding out the top three after a quiet race.

Like GTH, GTA went down to the wire with a great battle between Innovation Racing’s sister Ginetta and the Anthony Seddon Ginetta.

This time around, it was Innovation doing the chasing courtesy of Brent Millage, who put in his best performance of the season to catch and pass the fellow Ginetta with just minutes remaining on the clock.

Race 4

The final race of the day was a fairly calm one after the action-packed races the rest of the weekend had thrown up.

It was another lights-to-flag victory for Smith, who remained unchallenged throughout proceedings. The battle for second was much closer, with three cars all fighting for the remaining spots in the top three. Following on from a great podium earlier in the day, Kell held second position over Erceg, with Shaw nipping at his heels.

Kell put on a defensive masterclass to shut down any attempts Erceg had to offer, which ultimately earned him his second podium of the day with Erceg just 0.8-seconds behind in third. Shaw meanwhile, missed out on the podium by just 0.3-seconds himself in yet another close finish for GT Cup.

GTC, meanwhile, saw yet another one of GT Cup’s trademark close finishes as Iain Campbell looked set to take a comfortable win before Grahame Tilley decided otherwise.

Campbell had dominated proceedings from the get-go whilst Tilley had been stuck behind the Porsche 992 Cup of Michael McInerney, who was making his GT Cup debut this weekend.

Tilley eventually found his way through and unleashed 600+ raging bulls to try and claw back the deficit to Campbell. He came close but just ran out of time, coming home 0.3-seconds behind the fellow Lamborghini competitor in a strong outing in his new car. McInerney rounded out the top three after a solid first weekend.

After the intense action shown by GTH throughout the weekend, Race 4 was a much calmer entry as Hadley Simpson dominated, finishing 12-seconds clear of Clark whilst GTA went the way of the SVG BMW after a retirement in the earlier pitstop race.

After Brands Hatch, Feathers Motorsports’ Archie Clark and Tom Canning lead the overall standings by just 5 points from the all-dominant Mark Smith. SVG’s Neil Wallace and Ian Astley sit a further 11 points behind in what is shaping up to be another close title fight.

GT Cup returns for its third event of the season, taking place at Snetterton in Norfolk on the 7-8 June.