WSR FlexiFly will embark on a new chapter in 2026, as the multiple BTCC title-winning squad expands into the British GT Championship with a BMW M4 GT4 EVO and an all-Northern Irish driver pairing of Colin Turkington and Ernie Graham.

After decades of success in touring cars, including 18 outright titles and 137 race victories, West Surrey Racing’s move into endurance competition signals a significant evolution for the Sunbury-on-Thames operation. The programme will see the team contest the GT4 Pro-Am class of the six-round British GT season, beginning with April’s Silverstone 500.

At the heart of the entry is the latest-generation BMW M4 GT4 EVO, marking a return to the Bavarian marque for Colin Turkington in a full-season capacity.

Turkington, a four-time British Touring Car champion and long-time BMW standard-bearer, described the opportunity as the realisation of a long-held ambition.

“I’m delighted to be back in racing full-time in 2026,” he said. “It’s been an ambition of mine for a little while to dive seriously into GT racing, so to be able to do it in the British GT Championship, with all its history and the big names and major brands that are here, is really exciting. To do it with WSR FlexiFly – a team that really has been a second family to me over the past 20-plus years – is the icing on the cake.”

While Turkington’s CV is firmly rooted in tin-tops, his 2026 campaign represents a full commitment to endurance racing following a one-off appearance in GT competition last year. He will share the car with rallying stalwart Ernie Graham, who transitions to circuits after more than three decades of stage success.

Graham arrives with a résumé spanning FIA Middle East Rally Cup honours, three FIA European Historic Rally titles and a silver medal at the FIA Motorsport Games. More recently, he has sampled circuit racing machinery in BMW competition and built momentum through historic touring car outings alongside Turkington.

The prospect of stepping into British GT is, Graham admits, both a leap of faith and a natural progression.

“I’m so excited to be moving into the British GT Championship with WSR FlexiFly,” he explained. “It might sound strange to leave a world I know, and have been successful in, to take a leap into the unknown, but I’ve always loved new challenges, so I feel ready for it and think we can represent ourselves well.”

He also credits time spent sharing machinery with Turkington in 2025 as pivotal in accelerating his circuit development, adding that exposure to WSR’s pedigree ultimately sealed the deal.

For WSR, the British GT entry has been a strategic objective since first outlining plans to diversify beyond touring cars. Sporting & Operations Director Carl Mitchell underlined that the programme is a calculated expansion rather than a departure from its championship-winning DNA.

“From the moment we announced our intention to enter GT racing, we always targeted competing in the British GT Championship as the first major step on this journey,” said Mitchell. “In Ernie and Colin, we have two drivers from very different ends of the motorsport spectrum, but what combines them is their ability to deliver championship success and their determination to develop and improve. It’s going to be a big learning year for us, but we’re ready to expand operations.”

The team’s GT operation will blend established BTCC personnel with returning members boasting prior GT experience, creating what it hopes will be a seamless transition into endurance racing’s strategic and operational demands.

The 2026 British GT Championship begins with its blue-riband three-hour Silverstone 500 on April 25–26, providing WSR FlexiFly with an immediate test of pace, durability and racecraft in one of the UK’s most competitive GT4 fields.

With proven champions at the wheel and a championship-winning organisation behind them, WSR’s next era begins not on the short, sharp sprint stages of touring cars or rally forests, but in the strategic, multi-driver battles of British GT endurance racing.

BRITISH GT NEWS