The 2026 British GT Championship reaches what is set to be a thrilling finale at the historic Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit this weekend (26 & 27 September) as both the GT3 and GT4 titles have five crews who could walk away with the crown in their possession.
To make sure you’re fully up to speed with who can win what, and what they need to achieve it, read on for our full preview.
GT3
Five pairs of drivers head in to the 8th round of the season with a mathematical chance of taking the top prize, with 27.5 points covering those at the top of the standings with 37.5 available at the end of the final two-hour race of the year.
Leading the way is a man who already knows what it’s like to be a British GT champion, Rob Collard. The Barwell Motorsport racer has made consistency pay off in spades alongside Hugo Cook as they bounced back from a first round retirement to take two wins and a podium in the rounds since. Indeed, with a worst result of fourth (if you discount the DNF), their form has put them top on 122.5 points with a handy 15.5-point buffer to Barwell team-mates Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski.
The pair, racing a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, have arguably been even stronger than the duo across the garage having scored points in every race, but ninth at Snetterton has dented their prospects somewhat.
Although, the pendulum of fate could well swing back their way. Cook and Collard need to overcome an additional 20 seconds of success penalty if the latter is to become a three-time champion and if Martin and Waberski can take their second win of the season, their team-mates need to finish at least fourth.
But it’s far from a two-horse race, as Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat are on 105.5 points, 17 behind the leaders, and the former has clocked up some valuable mileage as he took a hatful of podiums at the GT Cup meeting last weekend at Brands Hatch. They’ll be hoping that experience turns the tide for the McLaren racers. It was going swimmingly for the Optimum Motorsport duo, with wins at Oulton and Snetterton, but a crash last time out at Donington Park has cost them momentum and position – they were top before heading to the East Midlands.
But in Barnicoat, Tillbrook has a powerful weapon. The IMSA racer is one of the fastest over a single lap, and that could well be key for qualifying, especially at a Brands Hatch circuit that needs confidence and no-end of patience to successfully overtake around the narrow, twisty, lap. Grid position could well decide the crown.
As could a bit of psychological warfare. Simon Orange is on 101 points with his co-driver, the never lacking-in-confidence Marcus Clutton, and he also made the trip to GT Cup last weekend and took two comprehensive wins in the 50-minute Pitstop races ahead of Morgan Tillbrook – could those wins be an early warning shot that he’s a man on form in an Orange Racing McLaren that seems to be ideally set-up for Brands?
They’ve also got another title to fight for, as the Pro-Am title is still to be decided and that is being headed by Orange and Clutton by 11 points, ahead of Cook and Collard – a quirk of the scoring system.
There’s still one more contender for the overall crown, and that’s Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn. The Beechdean pair have taken three podiums this season and always seem to pop up with a result when it matters the most. And what could be a better story than Howard scoring a final title in his Aston Martin Vantage before heading off into the sunset and retirement? British GT has had crazier endings, but with a 27.5 point deficit to make up, the pair would need to have basically everything fall their way.
Of note away from the championship battle, Paddock Motorsport’s Martin Plowman and Mark Smith will be making Porsche’s return to the GT3 field this season as they run a 911 GT3 R (992) that was raced by Nick Jones and Sven Müller last year. Paddock raced the car at GT Cup with decent success, considering how long it’s been since they’ve raced anything but a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.
Aaron Walker will also have a new co-driver alongside him in the 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo as Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia winner Todd Kingsford makes his British GT debut.
GT4
If you thought things were tight in GT3, the GT4 title battle is as tight, if not even more so. The top two come into the Brands battle tied on points and all five competitors are covered by 30.5 in a championship battle that has swung back-and-forth more times than a pendulum in a Grandfather Clock.
All season long, it has been a battle between Innovation Racing’s Thomas Holland and Hadley Simpson, and MK Racing’s Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton. But since the summer break, another contender has emerged – Century Motorsport’s Jack Collins and Branden Templeton.
Indeed, a third and second in the last three races has vaulted them to a tie at the top of the standings with the Innovation duo who lost vital ground after a mechanically-enforced DNF at Snetterton resulted in a non-score.
That means they’re now tied on 127 points, but it’s not just going to be down to them. Hawkins and Orton have seen their form taper off ever so slightly since the Spa weekend. The Aston Martin duo took three second-place finishes to start the year but have only taken one podium in the next four races. They’ve not taken a win so far this season but they know how to fight at the sharp-end and being only 6 points down on the top two means they’ve got a strong chance of giving the Vantage yet another piece of silverware.
Although speaking of Astons, there’s probably no one you’d more want in your corner than Darren Turner. If there’s something Turner doesn’t know about racing Vantage GT4s, it’s probably not worth knowing. The erstwhile factory driver has been on fine form in his Grange Racing by FSR example, and in Daniel Lavery he has a team-mate who has hit the ground running. Not only have they already won the Pro-Am title with a round to spare, but two wins and a second has put them 10.5 points behind the leaders and brimming with confidence to add another crown to the one they already have in the bank.
The final driver in contention really needs all the cards to fall in his favour. Josh Stanton has had a decent run of form in the last couple races now he’s been joined by George Gamble, but a disastrous Oulton Park with a DNF and a non-start due to how badly damaged his Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura was, means he’s got a mountain to climb. He’s 30.5 points back and with only 37.5 on offer, he really needs luck on his side.
Qualifying gets underway at 16.15 local time on Saturday 26 September, with the race taking place at 13.30 on Sunday 27 September.
