The sun shone on the grid ahead of the season-opening round of the 2026 British GT Championship, with our #27 Grange Racing with FSR Aston Martin Vantage AMG GT4 Evo starting second in the GT4 Pro-Am category. The Silverstone 500 is always a highlight of the British GT Championship calendar, but this year the three-hour race served as round one for the first time in 25 years. It presented a unique challenge for the team, who’d completed test laps around the 3.66-mile circuit earlier in the year.
Daniel Lavery took the green flag, defending his position in a competitive opening salvo of action - and not letting the leading cars escape from his view. The race quickly settled into a relentless rhythm, before the first Full-Course Yellow (FCY) period was called with half an hour elapsed. This allowed the team to take a gamble on strategy, and bring the #27 into the pits for a driver change, full tank of fuel, and fresh tyres.
Darren Turner led the GT4 Pro-Am class at the restart, moving up to third overall within the GT4 category with a decisive move into Vale. He maintained his position at the sharp end of the class, before settling into second place, and ultimately having to serve a drive-through penalty for a FCY speed infringement.
With some work to do, the #27 became the fastest GT4 on track by a considerable margin, with a time of 2:10.806 being the benchmark as the race entered its second hour. The car soon returned to second in GT4 Pro-Am. However, just two laps away from the next scheduled stop, the resurgent Vantage GT4’s progress came to a halt.
Passing the #24 Century Motorsport BMW on the run to Brooklands, Darren caught the #59 Optimum Racing McLaren Artura GT4. The BMW had greater momentum, and all three cars ultimately came together at the left-hand corner.
The contact caused suspension damage which eliminated the #27 from the race. While it’s not the result we were hoping for, there are plenty of positives to take from our British GT Championship debut. We showed our pace and racecraft, and despite a setback with a penalty early on, we came back fighting. Our team of skilled and experienced mechanics, technicians and engineers have been working tirelessly on the car’s set-up, and following a 1am finish on Saturday morning, their efforts were rewarded with P2 in qualifying.
Sometimes racing is tough, and today was a tough day at the office. Now though, the focus is on Rounds 2 and 3 at Oulton Park in a few weeks time.