Gotz/Tse back in title frame after triumphant British GT Oulton Park weekend

Maximilian Gotz and Kevin Tse reignited their 2025 British GT3 title challenge after taking a win and runner-up finish to Hugo Cook and Rob Collard at Oulton Park on Bank Holiday Monday.

The 2 Seas Mercedes pair headed into round three trailing championship leaders Kiern Jewiss and Charles Dawson by 51 points, but subsequently cut that deficit to just 10.

Tse was actually disappointed to have qualified third for the opening one-hour race, claiming his 0.030-second deficit to polesitter Collard was down to him not attacking Cascades enough. He therefore started on the second row alongside team-mate Dawson, while Giacomo Petrobelli (Blackthorn Aston Martin) joined Collard at the front having lost out to the Barwell Lamborghini by just 0.014s.

The margins were incredibly fine and that was evident at the race start: Petrobelli attacked into Old Hall, but Collard crucially took the inside line to stay ahead. It was a congested Turn 1, causing Dawson and Alex Martin (Barwell Lamborghini) to go off at the exit, dropping them to fifth and eighth respectively.

Martin soon regained a position, taking seventh from Bridger Honda’s Johnny Ip at Shell Oils, while Dawson was hot on the heels of Simon Orange (Orange Racing McLaren) but to no avail.

The battle for fourth allowed the top three to pull clear, an advantage that extended once more when Orange spun at Old Hall after Dawson tagged his rear-right in the 16th minute. That dropped the McLaren to 13th and, although Dawson felt he was sufficiently alongside, officials later awarded the #42 Mercedes a 10s penalty.

It was not long after the spin that another collision occurred, this one among GT4s, meaning the pit window arrived in the 23rd minute under yellow-flag conditions as leading cars boxed for driver changes.

A seamless stop meant Cook came out leading, while second-placed Gotz led Jonny Adam, in for Petrobelli, due to Blackthorn serving a 5s success penalty for finishing third at Silverstone. This all meant 20-year-old Cook had a huge task up ahead, as the yellows turned into a safety car and he therefore had to keep a Mercedes factory driver behind at the 39th minute restart.

But credit to the Oulton local, Cook managed it perfectly having all the answers to Gotz’s questions – even claiming it was a “quite straightforward” battle. Cook eventually crossed the line a second clear of the 2021 DTM champion to take his maiden series victory, Collard’s fifth, while Adam was 2.5s off top in third.

The 10s penalty dropped the #42 Mercedes from fourth on track to ninth, meaning Sam/Richard Neary (Team Abba Mercedes) and Sandy Mitchell/Martin respectively completed the top five.

Gotz was content with runner-up spot ahead of starting race two on pole, his first since joining British GT last year, after pipping second-placed Mitchell by just 0.062s. But the #78 Huracan was arguably the favourite for victory, as Gotz knew he needed a significant advantage over 2020 series champion Mitchell to combat the 7s success penalty for finishing runner-up in race one.

The German reckoned it was a tall order yet little did Gotz know that weather conditions would later cause havoc in the second one-hour contest. Wet tyres were fitted onto cars for the safety car start, but the track was drying so green running occurred from the second lap with teams already looking at when to fit slicks.

While many of their rivals were quick to switch to slicks, Gotz/Tse made the right call to stick with wets in race two

Photo by: JEP

Cook and Sam Neary were the first to switch and the #1 Huracan was suddenly quickest causing Barwell to immediately react by pitting its sister car from second. Optimum McLaren followed suit by bringing in Marvin Kirchhofer from fourth, yet Gotz was never tempted to pit claiming “the car was really good” even with wet tyres on a drying track.

That ultimately proved the correct decision as, in true Oulton style, it was only a lap after the tyre changes that rain unexpectedly started falling once more.

So, having rolled the dice too early, many returned to the pitlane to fit wet tyres again allowing Gotz to establish a crucial 7.9s lead after 30 minutes. This was over Sven Muller, who climbed from third in the Team Parker Porsche while Adam rose from fifth to complete the top three.

Conditions slightly improved during the mandatory pitstops, yet 2 Seas was in the minority to have switched its leading car to slicks. Tse began his stint just under a second ahead of Nick Jones (in for Muller and still on wets), while Orange was third due to Blackthorn’s 5s success penalty.

The tyre difference proved crucial as Tse bolted clear with Jones defending from behind, eventually being overtaken by fellow wet-tyre runner Orange with 13 minutes left. Tse ultimately finished 47s ahead of Orange, who resisted a storming Ip after the Honda driver rose from eighth on slicks in the final 20 minutes to give himself and Luke Garlick their maiden podiums.

The results keep Dawson/Jewiss, who finished 11th after pitting early on, in the championship lead but only 10 points clear of the sister 2 Seas machine, while Kirchhofer/Morgan Tillbrook are a further eight points behind in third.

Double victory gives Brown/Warren the GT4 title prerogative

Optimum strategy gave McLaren squad a 1-2 in race two

Photo by: JEP

Optimum Motorsport pair Jack Brown and Marc Warren celebrated an unlikely double victory at Oulton Park to solidify their authority on the British GT4 championship.

The McLaren Artura drivers headed into round three tied with Charlie Robertson and Ravi Ramyead (Century BMW), yet wins in both one-hour contests leave Brown/Warren 50 points clear at the top. The team’s 2025 signing Warren claimed “I am living my dream”, while the weekend has strengthened Brown’s bid to become the first two-time GT4 champion – but Oulton did not come easy.

The pair started fourth for race one, sharing the second row with their title rivals, as Josh Miller/Aiden Neate (Mahiki Lotus) beat Luca Hopkinson/Harry George (Optimum) to pole.

Qualifying left Miller “surprised” with the 19-year-old determined to take an “overdue” win considering the #84 Emira’s season thus far. It took provisional pole at the Donington opener, only to then lose it for a parc ferme breach, while a mechanical failure at Silverstone denied Miller/Neate a win from another pole.

But everything quickly unravelled at Oulton, too: Ramyead took first on lap one, before a completely new gearbox failed on the Lotus just the following tour causing it to stop at Hislop’s.

It left Hopkinson challenging Ramyead for the lead, yet a faultless opening 20 minutes from the BMW driver kept the McLaren behind, allowing third-placed Warren to close in. Warren soon overtook his team-mate down the inside of Old Hall after 22 minutes and the championship leader then inherited top spot just seconds later.

That happened because lapping GT3 traffic pushed Ramyead onto the grass at Island Bend, causing the BMW to suffer a 180-degree spin into the barriers. The incident eliminated the Century pair from the weekend – they were on provisional pole for race two – and put the opening contest under yellow flag turned safety car conditions through the driver changes.

It was a weekend to forget for Ramyead and Robertson and they’ve now fallen 50 points from the GT4 summit

Photo by: JEP

Brown led the 39th-minute restart ahead of George and then Jack Mitchell (in for Steven Lake aboard another Mahiki Lotus), never losing position as the reigning champion finished two seconds clear of runner-up Mitchell.

George dropped to fourth as four track-limit violations caused a drive-through, meaning Chris Salkeld/Branden Templeton (Century BMW) completed the podium, 25.966s off top.

Brown said a top-four result would suffice in race two, as both Optimum cars started on the third and final row after being disqualified from a dry-to-wet second qualifying for not setting multiple flying laps. Team boss Shaun Goff claimed “there was no point” in doing a second hot lap due to the weather, but it was still “naivety” on the team’s behalf.

Nevertheless, Optimum made up for it on Bank Holiday Monday with a brilliant strategy in race two: the Yorkshire-based squad stayed out until the mandatory driver changes despite the ever-changing conditions.

The wet-dry-wet weather caused Optimum’s rivals to make early tyre changes, a gamble that failed as Warren led Hopkinson in a 1-2 to start the second and final stint. Hopkinson inevitably applied pressure, but Warren held firm to win by 0.5s while the polesitting Mitchell/Lake were nearly 90s back in third, having made an extra pitstop.