Brilliant Brands Battles Won By Team BRIT And Orange Racing

A sensational pair of GT Cup Championship races thrilled fans at Brands Hatch GP circuit on Saturday (19 September), with a season-best grid and the early wins going the way of Team BRIT and Orange Racing by JMH.

A spectacular grid of 30 cars descended on the Kent venue, where new winners were crowned and old faces returned to the series and its podium top step on day one.

Team BRIT's Jamie Falvey struck first in GT3, before Simon Orange took the Pitstop Race on the former GT Cup champion's return. Charlie Benson won his first race in GTH for 24-7 Motorsport, while Aaron Cooke's lightning-fast debut helped Jolt Racing to share honours in the Group. Truemix Racing and Triple M Motorsport enjoyed doubles in the remaining groups, with Team BRIT and Innovation Racing sharing GTA successes.

This comes after the Championship announced on Friday, that a new Group will debut as part of the 20th Anniversary celebrations in 2027. Group GTL will be a new home for GT3 cars from 2007-2018, which allows former competitors and newcomers alike to bring out their machinery to commemorate 20 years of the GT Cup.
 

Qualifying

One of the most entertaining Qualifying sessions of the season was headlined by a brilliant squabble over the top four spots in GT3 at the head of the timesheets. Falvey jumped aboard the BRIT BMW M4 and went quickest initially, but was pipped to pole position by a mere 0.030s over returnee Morgan Tillbrook in the Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720s.

Behind them, just 0.4s covered the lead quartet with Orange and Peter Erceg - of PB Racing by JMH - following suit, ahead of the Lamborghini of Felix Livesey that headed GTC for Triple M Motorsport.

GTO went the way of Truemix Racing's KTM X-Bow GT2, as Tom Walpole beat Paul Bailey's Mercedes-AMG to the group's best time. GTA was headed by a new Team BRIT entry, with Bobby Trundley and Aaron Morgan's McLaren 570s beating the best efforts of Innovation Racing and SVG Motorsport.

GTH was a tense scrap, with Cooke impressing on his Jolt McLaren Artura debut. He could not get the better of the ever-rapid teenager Charlie Benson, who put 24-7 Motorsport's Ginetta G56 on the group pole position with a special late lap to seal the deal for the Sunderland rookie.

Sprint Race

A manic 25-minute Sprint Race would be the afternoon's first order, restarted after a lap-two incident that eliminated several drivers including Bailey and Michael McInerney's Parker Racing Porsche, which rolled after light contact - the driver thankfully emerging unscathed.

On the restart, Falvey got his head down and chased after Tillbrook, passing the McLaren man with a bold move into Paddock Hill Bend after braving it around the outside at Clearways. Orange followed him through into second, but could do nothing about the BMW driver who claimed an important victory in Team BRIT's GT3 title hunt.

The podium was rounded out by Erceg, who took advantage of a wild wide moment on the main straight for Orange that slipped his McLaren behind Tillbrook and the Audi R8 LMS of Erceg.

Livesey again kept his Lamborghini Huracan ST's nose clean as he brought home another win to edge Triple M Motorsport closer to their group title in GTC, despite the best efforts of Topcats Racing throughout.

Walpole was unchallenged in GTO for another strong KTM win, but in GTH it was finally time for Benson and 24-7 Motorsport to celebrate. A perfect getaway on the restart gave him the lead cushion needed to rebuff Cooke, edging away from the Jolt rookie to clinch that long-overdue first win for him and the team in 2026. Team BRIT added a second win thanks to their McLaren entry in GTA.

Pitstop Race

For a shortened 40-minute second contest, it would be Orange that put his rivals on red alert thanks to a blistering drive under colder conditions at the Brands Hatch GP circuit.

A rapid getaway gave him the chance to round the pole-sitting BMW of Paul Fullick and snatch the early lead, bringing Erceg and Tillbrook with home over the next laps to set up a fierce battle over the podium positions.

What then followed was a mighty defensive drive by Erceg in the Audi. He rebuffed the attacks of Tillbrook prior the pit window opening, and fought back when the Optimum McLaren pulled alongside him on two occasions - the pair almost brushing endplates was they tussled down the front straight at one stage.

It was enough to allow PB Racing to cement second place behind Orange, who had burst clear with a fine drive to clinch victory for the #67 McLaren 720s by a commanding 28 seconds at the chequered flag.

Marcus Clutton assured second for himself and Erceg, with Tillbrook rounding out the podium in GT3 and overall top three. Behind them, Paddock Motorsport had plenty to smile about as their newly-acquired Porsche 911 GT3 was fourth overall in the hands of Mark Smith, with the car's first miles being clocked in the morning's Free Practice session.

Walpole again tasted victory in GTO, while Charlie Digby joined the flying Livesey to combine for another big win with Triple M Motorsport in GTC. GTH was a hard-fought affair throughout, and this time Jolt Racing had their day, with John Ingram and Cooke putting in two expertly-driven stints to hand the team a well-deserved first win of their season in GTH. Second went to the battling Sam Branston who heroically fought his Innovation Racing Ginetta to the podium solo, with Ben Taylor joining Benson to add a podium to the earlier win for 24-7 Motorsport.

GTA was again a battle between McLaren and Ginetta squads, and this time the spoils went the way of Innovation Racing's Bryn Calder ahead of Team BRIT and Raceworks Motorsport's 'Pink Panther' entry.

#9 Peter Erceg

"It was good, I really enjoyed the battle with Morgan. He was a bit quicker on track but it's hard to pass round here so it was a lot of thinking about where to position the car, so he couldn't commit to the pass, which we did for a few laps. The whole weekend has gone well actually, we don't drive here that often so to rock up here and be competitive against the British GT front-runners was great. We're happy given the amount of miles they put on in testing.”

#247 Charlie Benson

"I'm so happy to finally get that first win. We've felt like we have had the pace to do it, but circumstances hadn't quite gone in our favour. The car felt amazing all week and I really love this circuit, so we put it all out in Qualifying and got the rewards. In the race, we made it count at the start of the restart, and then I could just get my head down and get a bit of gap and we got the win. Ben did a great job in the second race too, so it's been a good day for the team."

#4 Felix Livesey

"It's been a good day, pole, two wins and two fastest laps so happy with that. The car has been great, team has been awesome and Charlie did a great job in the first half of the Endurance race. Super happy with the day, hopefully carry it on tomorrow."

#37 Aaron Cooke

"It's been mega. John, Jolt, the whole team, made this happen for me. If I'd have turned up with a car by myself I'd have been nowhere. The guys and girls at Jolt have helped massively to get this car ready for the weekend to get it on the pace and make me look good from the get go. In the last race, we pulled a gap at the start and then John jumped in and took the win. The car is awesome, completely different to anything I've driven before; I've done some bits in a Ginetta before but it's nothing like this Mclaren. On Wednesday in testing we did about 20 laps because of disruption and then this morning Practice was disrupted, in Qualifying I was three-thousandths off pole and I felt I was robbed a little bit! In the Sprint race we started well and was chasing the Ginetta, but the red flag disrupted things and cooled the tyres and I didn't have the experience to get it back in the window.”