British GT’s Belgian Bash

In keeping with tradition, the spectacular Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium doled out plenty of excitement and intrigue during the British GT Championship’s annual visit to continental Europe.

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Last weekend's meeting produced new winners and added spice to the title races in both the GT3 and GT4 categories as the UK-based championship's 2025 campaign reached its halfway mark.

The main headline from the weekend came in GT3, when Aston Martin customer team Blackthorn AMR put in a dominant performance during the three-hour race, which acted as the third Endurance Cup round of the year.

Giacomo Petrobelli proved untouchable early in the race aboard the team’s #7 Vantage, which Jonny Adam eventually brought home. Milestones-wise, it was a historic result as Blackthorn earned its first-ever British GT win and Adam claimed his 20th, cementing his place as the most successful driver of the GT3 era.

The result has also spiced up the title race, as Petrobelli and Adam now find themselves up to second and just two points off the leaders Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss from 2 Seas Motorsport.

As a whole, it was a tough weekend for the Bahraini-flagged 2 Seas Mercedes outfit, which enjoyed such a dominant run through the opening stanza of the season. Dawson and Jewiss could only muster a sixth-place finish over the weekend, while their teammates Maxi Götz and Kevin Tse ended up a lowly 20th overall and 10th in GT3 Pro/Am, dropping them to fifth in the table.

Another strong performance from Optimum Motorsport’s Marvin Kirchhoefer and Morgan Tillbrook has seen them enter the fight, too. Second place in the Ardennes has vaulted them to third and just three points off the top spot. The title race is wide open, with 22 points separating the top five crews.

As for GT4, the paddock was alive with chatter before track action got underway, when Makhiki Motorsport arrived in the pit lane with three brand new Ginetta G56 GT4 Evos. After showing pace at every circuit so far this year but failing to convert speed into wins with its trio of Lotus Emiras, the team has made a bold move.

By switching brands, Yorkshire-based sports car manufacturer Ginetta suddenly finds itself back in the paddock, much to the delight of its motorsport CEO, Mike Simpson. And better still, the last-minute nature of the deal and the lack of Mahiki branding on the cars didn’t do much to prevent Mahiki’s drivers from setting fast times, though.

In Qualifying, Josh Miller and Jack Mitchell took pole for the team on Saturday and led most of the race on Sunday until a strategic call during a safety car period backfired. Nevertheless, the Makhiki squad appears energised and ready for the run-in with its new kit. Could it play the role of spoiler in time for the finale?

Mahiki’s loss in the race turned out to be Century Motorsport’s gain. Making up for a dismal showing at Oulton Park, Charlie Robertson and Ravi Ramyead recovered from two drive-through penalties and went on to win the class, beating the Endurance Cup class winners from Team Parker to the flag.

By scoring a victory when they desperately needed one to keep their title hopes alive, Ramyead and Robertson are now 27.7 points off Optimum’s Marc Warren and Jack Brown. They're not done yet!

The action continues in just two weeks at Snetterton, when the teams will fight for crucial points in Rounds 6 and 7 of the season on July 13th.