Paddock Motorsport will commence its fifth British GT Championship campaign at Donington Park this weekend, with the team carrying winning momentum into the opening race of the season.
Mark Smith and Martin Plowman will again share the team’s #9 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo this year and enter their third full campaign together arguably better prepared than ever before thanks to some impressive pre-season performances.
Just last weekend American driver Smith excelled during the GT Cup race weekend, which was also held at the Derbyshire circuit. After securing two podium finishes from the twin sprint races on Saturday, Smith then celebrated his breakthrough GT3 victory after an epic performance driving solo in the 100-minute endurance event. Smith outran a tightly-packed field that included many British GT regulars, and even defied splitter damage to eventually hold off the rival Track Focused McLaren by 0.024s in a nail-biting finish.
It was a standout performance from Smith, who this year has made a point of conducting additional testing and gaining extra race mileage with the aim of breaking into the podium places in British GT. The landmark result shows that he will go into the opening two-hour race of the year fully up to speed and ready to fight for a top result in the UK’s premier sportscar series.
Likewise, Plowman played a major role in aiding Smith’s success via his coaching and team management role. Plus, Paddock can now call on the experience and knowledge of top GT3 race engineer Toby Phillips, who has formerly worked on factory programmes with Lamborghini and Bentley and counts multiple success in both British and European GT3 racing on his impressive CV. The team has also taken in successful tests in both Portugal and the UK over the off-season and has been able to further refine the setup and performance of the McLaren GT3.
With both Smith and Plowman well dialled into the McLaren well before the first official British GT session even begins, hopes are high that the team can continue its push to the front.
Mark Smith says: “After a successful weekend in the GT Cup, we’re excited to hit the ground running in British GT. The team has done an incredible job with the car and I’ve managed to find some improvements in my driving. With an increased focus on single-lap pace, we’re focusing on qualifying well to get off to a strong start.”
Martin Plowman adds: “We feel more ready for the start of this season than any other before. We’ve managed to rack up some really good mileage pre-season, and last weekend Mark showed that he’s driving better than ever. Nothing beats seat time when it comes to GT racing and his was a phenomenal performance during the GT Cup weekend. It will also be a big confidence boost heading into British GT, which is such a competitive championship that getting a strong start is vital to success. We’ve worked hard to understand the new Pirelli tyre for this year and feel we’ve got the car into a good place, especially when trying to find that single-lap performance that is so crucial in qualifying. I’m really excited to see what we can achieve, not just this weekend, but for the rest of the season.”
Action for the British GT Championship season opener at Donington Park gets underway with twin practice sessions on Saturday morning ahead of Qualifying at 15:50. Sunday begins with Warm-up in the morning, with the two-hour race set to begin at 12:45. All sessions will feature live timing, while qualifying and the race will be streamed live on the GT World YouTube channel.