How British GT is on for an enthralling 2026 title fight

Beechdean Motorsport rolled back the years during British GT’s late May bank holiday visit to Oulton Park, as it took a foothold in this developing championship fight. It has been 11 years since series stalwart Andrew Howard claimed his second title and, although the Aston Martin driver has been a category mainstay, 2015 was his last race-winning campaign.  

One of his limitations in recent seasons has been teaming up with a silver driver, whether it be Jessica Hawkins or Tom Wood, both of whom are solid performers but not at the level of factory stars such as Sandy Mitchell, Maximilian Gotz or Jonny Adam, who won with Howard in 2015.  

But for 2026 the 62-year-old has struck gold by reuniting with Beechdean favourite Ross Gunn, who last contested British GT in 2023, before serving as an Aston Martin Hypercar/GTP driver in the World Endurance Championship and IMSA.  

“To have the pros in the car and have the pros in the team, it makes a massive difference for me – all credit to Ross,” says Howard. The belief within the paddock is that Gunn is a ‘world class driver’ – a term used by many of his competitors – and that has been largely witnessed across the opening two weekends, starting with Silverstone. 

The #7 Vantage finished sixth in the three-hour opener, though received the points for fourth due to two guest entrants on the podium, before taking an “evolved” package to Oulton, which led to pole for both one-hour races. Although it failed to translate either into victory, Beechdean still departed Cheshire as a big winner, with two runner-up finishes leaving Howard/Gunn top of the championship on 54 points.

“We massively surpassed our expectations this weekend,” says Gunn, who won the GT4 title with Beechdean in 2015. “So really proud of the work that everybody did because we were not strong here testing a few weeks ago and then we brought something that was far more competitive. A little bit frustrating not to get a win, but we’ll take the points and head to Spa.”  

An unexpected title challenge could be on for Beechdean after two podiums at Oulton Park

Photo by: JEP

Indeed, the title fight is far from over and there are roughly four cars with a genuine chance across the remaining four events. It’s just waiting for somebody to hit the right consistency and make a clean run, as the manic season opener left a mixed-up order.  

That’s evidenced by the Silver-Am entry sitting second, 6.5 points behind the Beechdean duo, as Charles Clark and Jonathon Beeson profited from great strategy at Silverstone to take a maximum score before finishing seventh and eighth at Oulton.

“We don’t expect to win overall, we’re going for Silver,” says Clark. That Century BMW is therefore expected to slide down the table, but the cars sitting third to fifth shouldn’t. Heading those, and only eight points off the summit, is Optimum McLaren pair Morgan Tillbrook/Ben Barnicoat, who claimed points across the opening two races before a much-needed victory in the second contest at Oulton. An overdue win too, one could say, as that crew was right in the Silverstone fight before an untimely safety car.

“Our head was in our hands at Silverstone, thinking the season was over. If we can qualify on the front row or second row at Spa, that should bring us right back to the front – it’s game on!" Rob Collard

“We’ve been there knocking away,” says Barnicoat. “Everyone knows we’ve been a contender, it’s just not quite clicked. Today it did click and we’re here, we’re having a go. We’ve just got to keep building on the momentum we’ve made here.”

That McLaren is definitely one to look out for, especially when it’s arguably the quickest on pure pace thanks to 2023 IMSA GTD Pro champion Barnicoat, who is yet to finish a pro qualifying session below second. 

Yet one must never discount serial winner Barwell, whose trusty Lamborghinis are fourth and fifth in the standings with 11.5- and 17-point gaps to the top. It is the Huracan of Alex Martin/Jarrod Waberski in fourth, whereas fifth belongs to pre-season favourites Rob Collard/Hugo Cook, who would be higher had they not suffered an engine failure when second at Silverstone. 

It was important for Collard and Cook to bounce back at Oulton Park after their late mechanical failure in the season opener

Photo by: JEP

The pair instantly bounced back by winning the first Oulton race before taking fourth in the sequel, the exact position Collard wanted as it means no pitstop success penalty for Spa in June.

“Our head was in our hands at Silverstone, thinking the season was over,” says the two-time champion. “If we can qualify on the front row or second row at Spa, that should bring us right back to the front – it’s game on!”  

It all means that, unlike recent years when the title favourite was clear early on, 2026 is setting up a grandstand multi-team finish, and right now it is too close to call… 

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

British GT hosts its overseas round in Belgium this weekend

Photo by: JEP