The Paddock Motorsport will expand its GT3 operation this season, with Mark Smith and Martin Plowman set to contest twin championships aboard the team’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. At the heart of the programme is a full campaign in the British GT Championship, with the pair set to significantly increase both their testing and race mileage with a secondary entry into the GT Cup Championship.  Paddock’s distinctive black and pink McLaren GT3 made significant progress toward the front of the British GT field last year, and for this season a restructuring of the team’s technical crew looks set to continue that upward trajectory. The operation of the McLaren will be now overseen by Toby Phillips, who brings with him a long history of success operating GT3 cars at a world-class level. Phillips has previously worked on factory programmes with both Lamborghini and Bentley and has achieved multiple successes in championships such as the GT World Challenge Europe and European Le Mans Series. Paddock has also relocated to a new technical facility, marking yet another sizeable investment in the team’s infrastructure. With a new-look technical crew, Paddock will aim to make the most of every lap across the course of this year, with Smith also committing to a GT Cup programme. GT Cup’s calendar shares the majority of the same circuits as British GT. GT Cup events often take place during the build-up to British GT ones, offering the team the chance to both compete for GT Cup honours, but also use those weekends to gain mileage, experience and setup data ahead of British championship rounds. California driver Smith has previously commuted across from the States ahead of each British GT event, limiting testing opportunities so the crew was often learning as it raced. This year that momentum will shift, with Smith spending increased time in the UK in order to focus further on his race preparation during what will be his third full British GT campaign. Pro driver and Paddock Motorsport founder Plowman first made his British GT debut back in 2017, winning the GT4 Pro-Am Championship title two years later. After founding Paddock in 2021, he has successfully grown the team into a major presence in the pitlane, last year fielding three cars in British GT. Plowman has worked alongside Smith since his debut in the series during the 2022 season finale, and across the last two campaigns the pair have shown great potential, regularly producing race pace capable of fighting within the top five. Despite a difficult start to last season, Smith and Plowman ended last year with two top-five finishes in the GT3 Pro-Am class across the events at Donington Park and Brands Hatch, signalling how far they had come across the year. Now, with significantly increased mileage and the backing of a refreshed technical crew, hopes are high the team can push on toward the podium places in 2025.

Paddock Motorsport is set to take its first steps into full-time European competition next year, with a two-car entry planned for the McLaren Trophy Europe in 2025. The Tamworth-based team has grown rapidly since its foundation by experienced racer and businessman Martin Plowman back in 2021. The team has already become one of the largest operations within the British GT Championship, this season fielding three cars in the UK’s most prestigious GT racing championship. While Paddock plans to continue its British racing operations into 2025 and beyond, an expansion into Europe has been on the cards for some time, and the recently evolved McLaren Trophy Europe format gives the team the perfect chance to build upon its already extensive experience with the Artura GT4 race car. For 2025 and beyond, the Trophy will feature an upgraded version of the Artura – the McLaren Artura Trophy Evo – which will boast an impressive 585PS, revised aerodynamics, wider tyres and new push-to-pass technology capable of boosting power output temporarily to 620PS. The championship will also feature a new Pro class aimed at Silver-graded semi-professional drivers. McLaren has also announced a new McLaren Trophy Academy talent mentoring scheme for any Silver drivers aged 26 or under who enrol in the full championship. Offering both the chance to develop and learn new skills, the scheme puts successful candidates on the ladder toward becoming a fully-fledged factory driver, as well as offering excellent testing opportunities in GT4 and beyond. The championship will also continue to offer both Pro-Am and Am categories. The McLaren Trophy Europe features 10 races across five events, with the bulk of the fixtures taking place alongside the world-renowned Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS, putting the McLaren Trophy on the biggest GT racing stage in the world. Legendary circuits such as Brands Hatch, Monza, Spa-Francorchamps, the Nürburgring and Circuit Paul Ricard comprise the schedule. The trip to Belgium in late June is a particularly special one as the races form part of the support package for the world-famous CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, with McLaren Trophy competitors also getting to take part in the public parade into Spa town centre for a unique experience no other event can match. Paddock Motorsport founder Martin Plowman says: “We’ve been keen to expand into European competition for a while now, and the McLaren Trophy Europe gives us a great opportunity to do just that. We’re one of the most experienced teams in the UK when it comes to the operation of the McLaren Artura GT4, and the upgrades for the Trophy Evo spec look very exciting. The McLaren Trophy as a whole is growing quickly with the additions of a Pro class for next year and the driver development aspects. We feel it will make the championship very attractive to young drivers seeking to develop a career in GT racing. The Trophy is also a great place for amateur drivers to learn, either by sharing with a Pro, a fellow amateur driver, or going it solo for maximum track time. “Next year promises to be an exciting one for us. We’re already in advanced talks about our British racing programmes, so for the team to get a foothold into European competition makes a lot of sense, especially when it gets Paddock Motorsport into an environment like Fanatec GT race weekends, which are truly something special.” Paddock Motorsport has already had enquiries about the availability of its twin McLaren Arturas, so interested drivers need to act fast to secure their seat for an unmissable 2025 season. A full winter testing programme is available. Contact Enquiries@paddock-motorsport.com

Paddock Motorsport put on a spirited display during the British GT season finale at Brands Hatch last weekend, with both its cars showing the sort of pace that brings big points, even if circumstances conspired against them. Mark Smith and Martin Plowman enjoyed a superb start to the final two-hour race of the year, running comfortably in the fight for the top six before some damage led to a seized door on their McLaren GT3 during their pit stop, and a desperately unlucky penalty then robbed them of an outright top-10 finish. Likewise, the Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Ed McDermott and Matt Cowley excelled across the race, gradually picking up places until the crew found themselves not only in the battle for a breakthrough GT4 Pro-Am podium, but potentially a class win before their hopes were dashed when the #12 was caught in a collision late on. Regardless of the results, Paddock Motorsport still heads into the winter break having enjoyed a strong 2024 British GT season. This year marked the team’s biggest entry ever, with three cars and six drivers. From those the team has celebrated two GT4 podium finishes and established itself as a regular challenger to the outright top six. Smith and Plowman have also enjoyed a strong run-in, finishing inside the top five in the GT3 Pro-Am class in each of the last two races helping them to ninth in the class championship. Despite the non-score in the finale, McDermott and Cowley round out the year eighth in GT4 Pro-Am. Brands Hatch represented one final chance to push for big scores, and neither car wasted that initially as Smith made a blinding start to vault from 11th on the grid up to eighth. Even though he lost out to a rival BMW when he was baulked by GT4 traffic around the Druids hairpin, Smith showed consistent pace and was soon duelling with newly crowned Silver-Am champion Shaun Balfe’s Garage 59 McLaren. Balfe went for a lunge into Graham Hill corner but collided with the side of the Paddock McLaren, and that would have consequences when Smith brought the car in for its mandatory stop. As he and Plowman attempted to switch seats, the McLaren’s door jammed shut after the hit, forcing the crew to complete their change via the wrong side of the car, sliding across the chassis from the passenger door. That cost vital time, with Plowman emerging in 10th to rejoin the race. A disrupted second half littered by full course yellow caution periods meant he never really got the chance to attack those in front, and things took a turn when the car was handed a drive-through penalty when Plowman accidentally clipped the rear of a GT4 car in front that had braked unexpectedly heading onto the pit straight. The #9 would finish 11th overall, but that did at least mean the car brought home some points due to some non-scoring guest entries ahead. It also put them fifth in the points-scoring Pro-Am order, which on reflection is a fine result, it just should have been more. The Mercedes-AMG GT4 also endured a dramatic race. McDermott took the start and began to rise up the order as he too picked cars off one by one. The car made its way inside the top five in class before McDermott stopped to hand to Cowley, and a slick change got the car out and up to fourth in class, right behind the rival Mahiki Racing Lotus. With a first podium, and even the class leader, in sight, Cowley pushed as hard as he could until a rare error entering Stirlings sparked a collision that would rule the car out. Still, there’s no denying the progress the crew has made across recent races. Paddock Motorsport will now reset and begin planning for the 2025 campaign, but not before it has rounded out the GT Cup season at Snetterton this coming weekend.