Paddock Motorsport is aiming for success across the board as the British GT Championship heads into its seasonal showpiece, the Silverstone 500, this weekend. After a challenging opening round of the year at Oulton Park over Easter – where the team’s number was whittled down to its twin McLarens after the new Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Ed McDermott and Matt Cowley suffered a terminal engine issue – the squad is now back up to a full complement of cars, competing across three of the championship’s four classes. This weekend’s three-hour Silverstone 500 represents not just British GT’s showpiece race, but also the biggest GT racing event in Britain. Boasting a huge 43-car field, the longer race places much greater demands on both driver endurance and strategy, especially with no set pitstop window. Each car must perform three pit stops across the course of the race, meaning two stints per driver, and each must not drive for more than 100 minutes in total, leaving the teams to work out the best strategy to get to the flag first. While Oulton was far from easy, the twin sprint races gave Paddock a chance to showcase its potential for the year ahead, with both the GT3 McLaren of Mark Smith and Martin Plowman showing impressive pace, and the Artura GT4 of Alex Walker and Blake Angliss taking home two strong finishes. The GT3 crew’s weekend was highlighted by a superb qualifying performance putting the #9 car sixth overall, and Smith and Plowman securing a best finish of eighth in the headline GT3 Pro-Am class in race two, despite the two outings in Cheshire being heavily disrupted by yellow flags. Likewise, Angliss and Walker impressed on their championship debuts, taking home a pair of fifth-place finishes in the GT4 Silver category to kick-start their season with some solid points. Since Oulton, the GT4 Pro-Am Mercedes-AMG has undergone significant work. After the car suffered a major propshaft failure, the technical team worked through Easter Sunday to fit a replacement, only for a larger engine issue to prevent the car from running on race day. With the machine now fully refreshed, McDermott and Cowley are hoping to get their season off to a flying, if delayed, start. McDermott has fond memories of the Silverstone 500, having won the GT4 Pro-Am class and finished second overall last season. 

Paddock Motorsport left the opening round of the British GT Championship with plenty of positives, despite the weekend throwing more than a few challenges at the team. The GT3 crew of Mark Smith and Martin Plowman showed flashes of great pace, and finished what turned out to be a truncated opening race with a well-deserved top-10 finish, while rookie pairing Blake Angliss and Alex Walker bagged a strong pair of fifth place finishes to start their campaign with solid points. Those results did come against a backdrop of disappointment though, with the new Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Ed McDermott and Matt Cowley having to be withdrawn after a major technical failure early on Saturday. The car shattered its propshaft during practice, and although a spare was sourced and fitted on Sunday, further engine issues prevented the car from running. Down to the twin McLarens for race one, both cars put in a fighting display in extremely tricky conditions that made the first race almost more about survival than progress. The grid formed up under persistent rain, with all cars on wet-weather Pirellis and the prospect of thick spray reducing visibility to a few metres at best. Smith was disappointed in his first qualifying of the year, starting the GT3 Evo from 13th in the monster field after not quite hooking up an ideal lap. Angliss climbed aboard the Artura GT4 to make his British GT debut, starting from sixth in class. The race began behind the safety car in the worst of the conditions, before releasing the cars in anger a few minutes later. Smith immediately looked to move forward, picking up a place when the J&S Racing Audi swapped ends through turn one. Smith then began to pressure the RAM Racing BMW M4, but was caught out when the M4 braked early into Hislops, forcing Smith to jump on the brakes and narrowly avoid the rear of the BMW as he skated down the escape road. With grass in the radiators from the incident, rising temperatures prevented Smith from making progress, as did a lengthy full course yellow period called to recover a stranded GT4 car. He eventually handed across to Plowman, but with the tyres lacking bite and racing action limited over the closing laps, a safe 12th was the limit for the pair. Angliss and Walker weren’t shy in getting involved, with Angliss getting stuck in despite the conditions and dicing with multiple cars across his stint. He flew past the CWS Ginetta at the start and then climbed all over the rear of the Race Lab McLaren before having his own progress stunted by the FCY. He pitted for Walker, who rejoined equally determined to push further up the order. Walker despatched the rival Artura with a fine move and then chased down the RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG, shadowing it across the line to secure a fine fifth place. Race two would provide a different challenge, and also a highly frustrating finish. Plowman excelled in his qualifying segment, putting the #9 McLaren GT3 Evo a fine sixth on the grid. However, this early promise was tempered when Plowman was rudely elbowed wide through the first turn, dropping a wheel of the sodden grass and losing momentum. That meant he was swamped down to 12th on the first lap, and had all the hard work to do over again. But in truth he never got the chance, as racing was neutralised first thanks to a multi-car tangle in the GT4 pack, and then again for virtually the entire second half of the race following barrier damage inflicted by a wayward Aston Martin GT3 and then a rival McLaren breaking down on track. It meant neither Plowman nor Smith really got a chance to get into the fight their qualifying pace had deserved, and eighth in class was all they could do. It was a similar story for the GT4 crew, with Walker qualifying the Artura GT4 fifth in class, he then made a solid start to the race, only to be caught behind the melee sparked when a Century Motorsport BMW M4 was tipped around at turn one, scattering the pack and damaging a handful of cars. Walker did brilliantly to avoid damage, slamming on the brakes to avoid the accident ahead. However, the lost ground would take a lot to recover. Walker then engaged in a great fight with Gordie Mutch’s Lotus, with Mutch diving past into Hislops only for Walker to snatch the place back through Cascades a lap later. He was fifth in class when he handed to Angliss, who rejoined for what would become a frustrating finish where everybody was unable to make progress. Still, two top-fives on their British GT debut was a superbly promising return for the young pairing. 

Paddock Motorsport will be out for glory on three fronts as the 2024 British GT Championship roars into life at Oulton Park this Easter weekend. The Tamworth-based team is embarking on its biggest British GT campaign yet, fielding three cars across three classes after a productive winter of recruitment enabled the squad to expand. American driver Mark Smith returns for a second full British GT campaign alongside Paddock team founder Martin Plowman in the #9 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. Paddock will run two GT4 entries for the first time, with Blake Angliss and Alex Walker sharing its regular McLaren Artura GT4, and Ed McDermott joining the team with his Mercedes-AMG GT4, bringing reigning British GT4 champion Matt Cowley with him. With Smith and Plowman competing in GT3 Pro-Am, Angliss and Walker in GT4 Silver, and McDermott and Cowley in GT4 Pro-Am, Paddock’s entries will be competing across three of the championship’s four classes, meaning the potential for trophy hauls this season has increased hugely. To ensure the team begins the year on a solid footing, a host of fresh faces have joined to strengthen the pool of knowledge within the technical team. These include Simon Pollock heading up the expanded GT4 programme and experienced racer Michael Broadhurst taking on a management role for the new Mercedes-AMG entry. The traditional Easter weekend British GT season-opener features twin one-hour sprint races around the undulating Cheshire circuit, which regularly draws huge crowds throughout the event keen to see world-class GT3 and GT4 cars running door-to-door.