Can Ferrari stalwarts win in British GT with Lamborghini?

Phil Keen will (probably) forever go down as the greatest British GT Championship driver to never win the title. The 42-year-old, also known for his stint as The Stig, is second to Jonny Adam on the all-time race wins list (one off, on 19) after spending a decade at the front, with three consecutive runner-up finishes from 2016 to 2018. 

It was just a combination of bad luck at crucial moments that prevented Keen from taking glory. In the 2016 finale at Donington Park, for example, his Barwell Motorsport co-driver Jon Minshaw slid their Lamborghini across the Old Hairpin gravel trap and into retirement. This wiped out the 11.5-point advantage they had gained and effectively handed that year’s crown to TF Sport Aston Martin duo Derek Johnston and Adam.

But behind Keen on the ‘best drivers to never win the title’ list is Matt Griffin. If Keen is the Stirling Moss of British GT, then Griffin can be the Gilles Villeneuve: the rapid Ferrari stalwart, who rarely had the machinery beneath him. That is, perhaps, until now…

“We were coming off a disappointing season and I wanted to try to mitigate having another,” reflects Griffin. “Obviously motor racing is motor racing, you can’t guarantee anything, but what you can do is say, ‘OK, let’s try and go with the best team with a proven car that works in the UK.’”

That is exactly what the Irishman has done – he and longstanding co-driver Duncan Cameron have joined an expanded three-car Barwell attack for its final season using the Lamborghini Huracan before switching to the Temerario GT3. 

This is the potential feel-good story of 2026, because if there is ever a chance for Griffin to return to the front – his last BGT win came at the Nurburgring in 2012 – then it’s now. The 43-year-old has been in the paddock on and off since 2003 and from 2008 has been a factory man for Ferrari, driving every GT3 produced by Maranello and successfully competing in the World Endurance Championship, GT World Challenge Europe and European Le Mans Series.

Griffin and Cameron have worked together for years – and took Blancpain Pro-Am title in 2015

Photo by: Ebrey/LAT/Getty Images

He has scored six British GT wins during that time, all alongside Cameron in Ferrari machinery, with a best championship result of third in 2010, but last year – their first campaign in the UK since 2020 – was perhaps the most underwhelming yet: 13th aboard the AF Corse-run 296. 

“Our hope was to bring the Ferrari back and be super-competitive, but it just didn’t quite work out due to the nature of the UK tracks,” reckons Griffin, who dovetailed British GT with a campaign in the ELMS. “When we were on the bigger tracks, like Spa or Silverstone, we were very quick. It was just the small tracks where we couldn’t get the car to work.”

He put this down to a lack of torque, meaning the 296 struggled to progress through the gears quickly enough – Griffin didn’t even use fifth or sixth at Donington – so was never in the same category as the likes of Aston Martin, Lamborghini, McLaren or the title-winning 2 Seas Mercedes. 

It’s clear that the veteran pairing still has the raw pace and a fresh start was needed and there’s now no reason for them to not be in the mix

And this was quite the shame. A lot had been made about the Italian marque returning to British GT, but its car simply could not be adapted to tighter circuits such as Oulton Park or Snetterton. Griffin and Cameron managed a best finish of seventh. 

That was despite whatever promise Griffin or Cameron showed during the campaign – Griffin secured the second fastest lap during the three-hour Spa contest, while they were also setting frontrunning lap times at the Silverstone 500 until retirement. 

It’s clear that the veteran pairing still has the raw pace and, while the easy option would have been to continue with Ferrari, hoping the new 296 Evo package would yield better fortune, a fresh start was needed and there’s now no reason for them to not be in the mix.

Last British GT win for Griffin/Cameron came at the Nurburgring in 2012

Photo by: Ebrey/LAT/Getty Images

That’s because the Huracan holds a mid-engined, naturally aspirated V10 that is more in line with the 458 that gave Griffin multiple victories in the early 2010s than is the turbocharged 296. He even reckons that the Lamborghini suits his “specific driving style a little bit better”, thereby alleviating the “leap into the unknown” that comes with switching manufacturers.

Even so, that still wasn’t the main motivation to join Barwell, particularly since it holds decades of experience running multiple cars on UK tracks, as opposed to being a one-garage team with AF last year – regardless of how much success it has on the continent. 

“It wasn’t the Lamborghini that drove the decision, it was the team,” confirms Griffin, who almost joined the Surrey operation until it chose a different direction for 2007. “If Barwell had been running a Mercedes or a McLaren, the decision would have been to try to go in that direction. So to go back and have the opportunity to drive with them, where there’s no question marks, it’s quite exciting.”

There is simply no team with a British GT track record like Barwell’s. It was there for the debut of GT3 and has since taken five drivers’ titles including three of the past five, claiming success alongside whichever manufacturer it has partnered with – whether that be Lamborghini, BMW or Aston Martin.

“Always a mixture of excitement, nervousness, because we’re one of the teams that are expected to perform and that comes with an element of pressure,” says Barwell boss Mark Lemmer as he looks ahead to 2026. “I always remind the team that we have to earn that every year. Just because you’ve done well in the past doesn’t mean you’re going to do well in the future. So I always feel a bit of pressure that we’ve got to be at the front and winning races.”

With such a relentless attitude, it is no surprise that Barwell keeps coming back for more, and there is extra motivation for it to send off the Huracan on winning terms. Are Griffin and Cameron the duo that can help the team do exactly that?

Barwell took teams’ and drivers’ titles with the Huracan in 2024

Photo by: JEP

“It’s great to finally have those guys come and join us and see what we can do together,” smiles Lemmer, whose team finished runner-up to 2 Seas last year. “They’re a very experienced, great pair of drivers. So we’re delighted to have a third strong car. It’s certainly not there to make up the numbers, it’s there to be in the thick of it.”

It just depends on what “the thick of it” means exactly. By Barwell standards, that’s fighting for the title – the team has powered Sandy Mitchell, Leo Machitski and Rob Collard to glory – while also running at the front with the likes of Keen and Shaun Balfe. But this would entail jumping to conclusions rather quickly, so Griffin isn’t getting bogged down with title talk just yet.

“First of all to be competitive,” he says of the target. “If we can come away and win a race, that would be superb. I’m fairly confident that we’ll have the opportunity to run up towards the front, Duncan’s a good Am, I know my way around a race track and the British GT Championship. Obviously to say that we’re going to try and challenge for the championship, yeah that’s what we’ll try and do. But the aim is to have consistent podiums and if we can win a race, I’d consider that a successful season.”

“If we can come away and win a race, that would be superb. I’m fairly confident that we’ll have the opportunity to run up towards the front” Mark Lemmer

The key in carrying out that plan of action is a strong start, because this is a very hard championship in which to recover; Kiern Jewiss and Charles Dawson won the 2025 British GT title after leading the standings from the Donington opener. 

But this year the first race is the three-hour Silverstone 500 at the end of April, and the championship’s blue-riband event is always extremely hectic, with differing strategies and mixed weather throughout. Those who are calm and experienced usually prevail, so this should favour Griffin and Cameron, who have two Snetterton tests, plus the Silverstone media day, before the eight-race campaign across six venues begins.

Aside from the strong competition and how quickly they can acclimatise to new surroundings, whether they can contest the full season is another factor in how successful they can be. The duo skipped Donington and Brands Hatch due to clashing ELMS commitments last year, but Griffin is confident that his regular Ferrari duties will not get in the way.

“It all depends on my other programmes, which aren’t fully set yet, because if I have to miss a round, Duncan also chooses to miss a round,” he explains. “At the moment it looks like it’s all good, but I’ve got the ELMS, Italian GT, as well as other programmes, so we just have to see how that works around it.”

Ferrari showed flashes of pace in 2025, but results were thin

Photo by: JEP

The likely GT3 contenders

Matt Griffin reckons there are approximately “six to eight” cars with the potential of contending for the 2026 British GT title but, for now, that could be any one of the grid. Several leading drivers have left, so that presents the opportunity for a surprise package to come through and make a serious challenge.

Reigning champions Kiern Jewiss and Charles Dawson have instead opted for a full campaign in GT World Challenge Europe, Jonny Adam is back in the World Endurance Championship, Sandy Mitchell is in IMSA, and Marvin Kirchhofer and Maximilian Gotz have also moved onto pastures new.

So, the grid has been shaken up but, amid the chaos, eyes will always look towards Barwell and its Lamborghini Huracans. Running three cars instead of two might present logistical headaches but Barwell has been here before with a trio of Aston Martins in 2007. To mitigate any extra challenges, it will manage the operation “as a two and a one”, so “one car will be independent of the other two”, according to team boss Mark Lemmer. 

At the Silverstone opener, the ‘independent’ car will be the #63 of Hugo Cook and Rob Collard, simply since it’s a continuation from last year. For that reason alone it must be regarded as one of the championship favourites, because the importance of familiarity cannot be underestimated – not to mention that Collard is the strongest amateur, which usually decides the title. Cook, aged just 21, is also impressive – they finished runner-up last year. 

Griffin and Duncan Cameron are expected to be strong in the #55 Lamborghini due to their race-winning history, but it remains to be seen what happens in the #78. Alex Martin is back after two straight years at the front but, with Mitchell now Stateside, 20-year-old Jarrod Waberski joins to make it a Silver-Am pairing.

Traditionally, Silver-Am duos don’t contend for the title, but Lemmer is still confident it’ll be at the front given Waberski won the GTWCE Silver Cup last year and holds a decent record in GB3 and GB4. Alongside Barwell, 2 Seas should put up a strong defence of its crown through Gotz’s old co-driver Kevin Tse and newcomer Ben Green, who was a podium finisher in DTM last term.

The Optimum Motorsport McLaren team is also expected to be at the front, with 2023 IMSA GTD Pro champion Ben Barnicoat replacing Kirchhofer alongside Morgan Tillbrook. So although many big names have left, their replacements are equally strong. And watch for single-seater powerhouse Rodin Motorsport, which makes its British GT debut with a Ferrari 296…

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the May 2026 issue and subscribe today.

Silverstone will host the start of the GT3 contest in 2026

Photo by: JEP