Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton have surprisingly won the 2026 British GT title with victory in the two-hour Brands Hatch finale as erstwhile leader Rob Collard spun off.
The Orange Racing McLaren pair were one of five mathematical contenders, but with a 21.5-point deficit to Collard/Hugo Cook (Barwell Lamborghini), a near miracle was needed.
But that happened thanks to Collard spinning from the lead just before the halfway mark, handing a maiden title to Orange and Clutton who also won the first race of 2026.
That pairing was never really in the title conversations heading to Kent, because Collard/Cook held a 15.5-point advantage over team-mates Alex Martin/Jarrod Waberski in second.
Third belonged to Optimum McLaren pair Morgan Tillbrook/Ben Barnicoat, with Orange/Clutton splitting them and fifth-placed Andrew Howard/Ross Gunn (Beechdean Aston Martin) who were 27.5 off top.
So Collard/Cook enjoyed a healthy advantage with 37.5 points available and the job seemed half-done when they qualified second behind 2 Seas Mercedes pair Kevin Tse/Chris Lulham.
On the second row was Orange/Clutton and Tillbrook/Barnicoat respectively, with Martin/Waberski and Howard/Gunn down in a disappointing seventh and eighth respectively.
Collard therefore knew what was needed of him and that was evidenced at race start, by taking the lead with a daring move around the outside of Paddock Hill before completing it at Druids.
“That was a move, to be fair,” reacted a delighted Cook, who was hoping to take a maiden title in only his third season.
It was otherwise a stable lap one on what is a difficult track to overtake and after a clean start, eyes turned to when the GT3s had to lap GT4 traffic for where the drama would come.
That period saw Martin overtake Jonathon Beeson (Century BMW) for sixth at Druids 20 minutes in, whereas Tse went deep at Stirlings and dropped to third with Orange taking second.
The McLaren driver kept on Collard’s tail but the two-time series champion held firm, as the rapid top two continuously built their buffer over the rest of the field.
It therefore looked good for the #63 Huracan, which was due to serve an extra 20s in the pits for winning at Donington Park last time out, with Tse’s 2 Seas receiving 15s after coming runner-up at the penultimate round.
So it seemed like the damage for Barwell would be minimal with a respective nine and 20-second gap to third-placed Tse and fourth-placed Tillbrook heading into the pit window.
A podium would have been enough, but everything dramatically changed after 54 minutes when Collard spun into the Sheene Curve gravel, dropping the Lamborghini to the back.
“Rob had done an absolutely fantastic job up to that point, but he was just pushing to try and get the gap out a little bit more and he just made a little mistake,” said Barwell boss Mark Lemmer, whose squad took a seventh teams’ title regardless.
The Orange McLaren therefore became the provisional champion and kept that tag with a clean driver change, where no compensation penalty was served due to having finished in sixth place at Donington Park.
So Clutton emerged with the race lead ahead of Optimum McLaren’s Jack Brown (in for Marc Warren), while Barnicoat swiftly took third from Lulham before grabbing second with 30 minutes left.
Yet hopes were still slim as Clutton held a 21.5s advantage and the 2023 IMSA GTD Pro champion required a third overtake to give himself and Tillbrook the title.
That opportunity never presented itself and a clean stint from Clutton saw him cross the line 17s ahead of Barnicoat to add to his GT4 championship from 2011.
“Couldn’t have been much better,” said Orange, who finishes the season six points ahead of runner-up Tillbrook/Barnicoat. “As soon as Collard went off, I knew we were on for it.
“It’s brilliant, it’s our second season [together] and we’ve been getting better and better. British GT champion!”
Brown completed the podium in the sister McLaren, 17.2s behind Barnicoat, while fourth went to Charles Clark (in for Beeson) after Lulham served a drive-through for going too slow at pit exit.
Waberski therefore completed the top five, ahead of sixth-placed Gunn and Lulham in seventh, with Callum MacLeod (Optimum McLaren), Aaron Walker (2 Seas Mercedes) and Martin Plowman (Paddock Porsche) rounding out the points positions.
The GT4 title, meanwhile, went to Grange Racing Aston Martin pair Darren Turner/Daniel Lavery, who finished second behind race winners Josh Stanton/George Gamble (Optimum McLaren).
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– The Autosport.com Team
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