British GT's 2025 Season Opener - Transmission's Top 20

It took Charles Dawson just 73 minutes to prove himself worthy of his graduation from GT4 to GT3 at Donington Park last weekend.

The 2024 GT4 Pro-Am champion (with Seb Morris) immediately set the standard during his 10-minute qualifying session, delivering four consecutive laps (from six), each good enough for pole position. Even more telling is the fact that he was less than a second off the time of his pro partner Kiern Jewiss (who was also remarkably quick, being the fourth fastest in the pro session on his British GT debut). The following day, Dawson, led the charge across the line at the race start and by the time he pitted for the driver change and refuelling, he held a comfortable five-second advantage.

There are some notable absences from this season’s line-up, and as a result of Dawson’s outstanding performance, some vociferous comments by rivals over driver grading that sees Dawson entered as ‘FIA Bronze’ and not ‘Silver’ as his pace suggests. But Bronze he is, and Bronze he should stay; he’s an amateur who only started racing later in life… he just happens to be very, very quick.

GT4 also suffered a decline in numbers but there was no shortage of action, especially from reigning champion Jack Brown and former champion Jack Mitchell, both seeking to become the first in class to repeat their triumphs. Brown, this year partnered by Marc Warren, was straight back onto winning form, setting the benchmark for race pace and traffic management to dispel the anticipated challenges from Phil Keen and Seb Morris in Team Parker Racing’s pair of Mercedes-AMG GTs.

Here are 20 of our top images from the headline event and support series’.

All images by Steve Hindle

Dawson's command of the 2 Seas car was immediate and impressive.

Whilst Jewiss capably resisted Mitchell's onslaught to secure the win on both his and Dawson's British GT GT3 debut.

In GT4, Marc Warren & Jack Brown were in commanding form, Warren seen here repelling the Lotus of Aiden Neate (partnered with Josh Miller) who would go on to win the all-Silver class.

There was a similar battle in the early laps of GT3, Alex Martin in the Barwell Lamborghini finding himself under relentless pressure from Kevin Tse.

Tse has renewed his partnership with former DTM champion Max Götz for 2025. Two-time winners last year, only a hesitant start prevented the duo from challenging their teammates from P2 for the lead/eventual win.

Best of the GT3 McLarens was the Optimum' car of Morgan Tillbrook & Marvin Kirchhöfer. The German was the quickest of all in qualifying and pushed hard to catch Götz in the final stint.

Sam Neary's elevation to FIA Gold might just have taken away the one chance the perennial pairing had for meaningful silverware this year, the newly-classed Pro-Ams having made hard-fought progress to P5 in the race but still ending twelve seconds behind the third-place car.

Replacing the Abba car as GT3 Silver-Am leaders is the Beechdean AMR entry of Andrew Howard & Tom Wood. Wood replaced Jess Hawkins for last year's season finale and not only qualified well but raced superbly, earning the fastest lap of the day. Here, after a prolonged first stint fight with Bridger's NSX, both drivers showed the type of form that should deliver more as the rounds progress.

Back to GT4: Though lacking consistency last year, Pro-Am pairing Ravi Ramyead & Charlie Robertson raced hard to earn two outright wins. Now with the evo kit added to their Century Motorsport BMW M4, both drivers looked even more confident as they pushed to close the gap to the leaders (but had to settle for P2 this time).

Ed McDermott has taken his retro-liveried Mercedes-AMG GT to Team Parker racing and unleashed the pace we always knew he was capable of. Now partnered with last year's Pro-Am Champion Seb Morris, both drivers looked sure-footed as they completed the podium whilst also winning the GT4 Pro-Am Endurance Cup.

With three cars entered, Mahiki Racing were hoping to make headlines with their Lotus Emiras from the start... which they did, but mostly for seeing the #84 and #69 cars disqualified from qualifying for a parc ferme infringement. This left the #88 car of Ian Duggan & Joe Wheeler to lead the charge... until Giacomo Petrobelli in the GT3 Aston Martin speared it into the gravel on the run up to Coppice.

Back to GT3 - there wasn't much joy for the debuting Honda NSX of Chun Cheong Ip & Luke Garlick, but it remains a very welcome addition to the grid. All it needs now is a little more imagination added to its livery.

GB4 (using the old GB3 bodies) was given its chance to star as 'best of the rest' and star it did. Daniel Guichard was once a Mercedes F1 Junior and took a serious reset, stepping down to the entry-level series in order to prove his worth. He didn't win any of the three races, but his consistency put him straight to the top of the standings (for now anyway).

Isaac Phelps was a rookie pace-setter in Ginetta Junior last year. Now he's stepped-up to GB4 and immediately proved that the transition to single seaters has served him well, earning the first George Russell Pole Position award of the season, followed by a race win and then P2 in Race 2.

Alex Berg is one of three sons of ex-F1 drivers to appear on this year's grid. The young Canadian has also already taken wins in US F4 and British F4, but it was the taste of victory here (Race 3) on his debut weekend which was undoubtedly the sweetest of all.

Dayton Coulthard is another young racer with Formula 1 lineage (Luca Magnussen being the other). The young Scot already brings a wealth of support to the grid and whilst this particular weekend will soon fade from memory, we can expect to see much more of him as the years progress.

Tom Coronel has worked hard to see Red Bull backing for son Rocco in Ginetta Junior. In turn, Rocco has worked hard to build his speed and racecraft to leave Donington leading the standings: Watch this space.

The main contender to Coronel's title ambition is returnee Alfie Slater, seen here leading the pack at the start of Race 2. A podium finisher in last year's season finale, there's family bragging rights to be settled too (brother Freddie was Ginetta Junior champion in 2023).

TCR UK really should be better by now, but it isn't. The grids are still too small whilst the performance gaps between cars, teams and drivers remain far too wide. Here's Sam Laidlaw, winner of Race 2 being assaulted from behind by Callum Newsham, attempting to recover from being forced onto the grass.

Drivers in Ginetta's GT Academy are mostly taking their first steps towards an eventual career in British GT and maybe beyond. Mike West has just endured lesson #1.

Written By

Steve Hindle

Steve has lived his life with motor sport; from childhood years as a fan, to racing around the greatest tracks in Europe, first as a driver and later as a team principal. Today he's a familiar sight trackside and in the pit lane, notebook in one hand, camera in another, capturing moments and contributing to some of the leading titles in motor sport and automotive media.

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March 24, 2025

British GT's 2025 Season Opener - Transmission's Top 20

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British GT's 2025 Season Opener - Transmission's Top 20

Share this:

Like this:

Written By

Steve Hindle

Try These Next

British GT 2025 – Media Day Test

Day turns AMR Silver into Gold

British GT & Support, Brands Hatch: Transmission’s Top 20: The Champions

Add comment Cancel reply

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