After a promising opening season with Orange Racing in the British GT Championship, Marcus Clutton is hoping to be ‘in the mix’ for the 2026 title in his second season with the team.
After a GT Winter Series campaign ahead of the 2025 season with Orange Racing, Clutton joined Simon Orange at the JMH-powered team for a full British GT campaign last season.
Their highlight of last season was a runners-up finish at Oulton Park and despite the ninth-place finish, it was Orange’s best championship result, showing not only the speed but also the impact of having a driver of Clutton’s calibre.
However, they endured some mixed results last year and will be looking to build on the positives to get their momentum going from round one.
They will be running a McLaren 720S GT3 again this season, with a familiar blue and orange livery leading their title charge.
This year the team have again started their campaign in the GT Winter Series, notably taking a win in race two of the fourth round at MotorLand Aragón in Spain.
Speaking to GT REPORT and BMM at the British GT media day, Clutton said of the car, “It’s alright at the moment. I think it’s a little bit loose and it feels a bit awkward. We haven’t done any work on it yet. We’re just using whatever bits we have left from the test in the winter, so there’s a bit of work to do. There are a few tweaks to make and we’ll see how we get on.”
In a Pro-Am pairing such as Clutton’s and Orange’s, the role of the Pro is vital in helping the amateur get up to speed so they are able to compete closer to the front.
Clutton briefly explained what he has been working on with Orange so far this season.
He said, “We’ve swapped him to left-foot braking. That’s been the biggest transition of the winter. I’m not saying he’s perfected that, but it’s going very well. I think the raw pace is there anyway. If we stay out of trouble a little bit more, some better results should come, hopefully.”
This season, he and the team will be looking to build on the moments of promise they showed last year.
“Like anybody else, we want to win it,” Clutton said when asked about his expectations for the season. “I think some great progress would be to finish in the top three in the championship. I think it was doable last year, but we messed that up ourselves. Obviously winning it is the priority, but I’d be disappointed if we weren’t in the top three.”
After topping the British GT media day time sheets at the end of last month, they look like they could be the team to beat the first round.
The 2026 British GT season gets underway this weekend at Silverstone, where the home of British motorsport hosts the opening round of the championship for the first time since 2001.
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