Heroic team effort lands Paddock a podium and points in British GT finale

October 23, 2023

Paddock Motorsport once again proved why it has one of the best technical teams in the business after a supreme team effort helped score both a breakthrough GT4 Pro-Am podium and a top-10 finish in the Intelligent Money British GT Championship finale at Donington Park.

The team’s engineers were tested to the limit when the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Mark Smith and Martin Plowman was cruelly put into the wall at the end of qualifying on Saturday, a hit that inflicted terminal chassis damage. After sourcing a spare chassis from the Enduro Motorsport team, Paddock’s engineers pulled an all-nighter to prepare an all-new car for Sunday, and Smith and Plowman rewarded them with a fighting performance.

The engineering team’s efforts also led to Paddock being named as British GT’s Team of the Weekend for the second time this season, following their first award for work on the GT4 car’s gearbox at Portimão.

Arguably the biggest joy came in GT4, where Kavi Jundu and new team-mate Tom Gamble battled to a breakthrough podium in the GT4 Pro-Am class aboard their McLaren Artura GT4, landing a long-overdue trophy for that side of the garage.

With Saturday set to be wet and Sunday dry, both practice sessions were spent setting up the twin McLarens for the mixed conditions of qualifying. Smith and Plowman challenged constantly for times in the top six, while Jundu and Gamble proved they were right in the podium fight with some strong early times, including Gamble going third fastest overall in FP2.

And then came qualifying, which spelled disaster for the GT3 crew. Smith took the wheel for the first segment and was flying in the drying conditions, holding a spot inside the top six and on a significantly faster lap when a wild slide from a Race Lab McLaren sideswiped Smith as he exited the final corner, putting the McLaren nose-first into the concrete wall. Smith emerged with no injuries, but the car was done. Cue the Herculean effort from the technicians, who worked until 5am to get the carbon black second car ready for action.

In GT4, Jundu challenged for the top Pro-Am time before a huge slide down the Craner Curves cost him his fastest lap. He and Gamble would start P4 in class on combined times, but with everything to play for.

Sunday would prove far more fruitful, with both Paddock’s cars making forward progress. Smith and Plowman lined up at the back of the GT3 field and Smith was forced to play things safe early on while a replacement power steering system was bedded in. Despite the limitation, Smith kept things clean and worked his way up to 11th by the time the pit window opened.

With the second of three safety car periods coming right as the pit window opened, Smith stayed out an extra lap to avoid the crowded pitlane and it paid off handsomely when he and Plowman enjoyed a flawless change in a quieter pitlane, with Plowman vaulting up the order to sixth in the process.

The hastily-prepared car did have some limitations, such as increased rear tyre temperatures, but Plowman fought hard against Aston Martin and McLaren factory drivers Ross Gunn and Marvin Kirchhoefer, before eventually taking ninth at the flag.

If the GT3 result was rewarding, the GT4 one was even better, with Jundu and Gamble overcoming a pitlane mix-up to grab a podium. Jundu got right into the fight at the start, moving up to third in Pro-Am early on to pressure the class leaders. When the twin Ginettas that were fighting over top spot collided, Jundu picked his way through the chaos to lead. While Ian Gough would eventually work his way past, Jundu held second until the pit window opened but, with the entire GT4 field pitting as one under the safety car, the crowded pitlane produced a problem. Paddock’s lollipop man was blocked from signalling, leading Jundu to overshoot his pit box in the mayhem. Forced to do an extra lap, Gamble took over and rejoined fifth after the stops. Regardless, Gamble put on a masterclass, chasing down his class rivals and working his way back up to third to finally secure Paddock’s Artura GT4 a spot on the podium.

The results made it a strong finish to the 2023 British GT season, on both sides of the garage.

Mark Smith said: “It’s been a really challenging weekend, but to be able to get back into the race and then enjoy a competitive run really is testament to how hard the Paddock guys worked. I had to be pretty careful at the start as we had to change the power steering pump and bleed the system after Warm-Up, so we were really still testing at the start of the race, but once things calmed down I got into some good fun fights and moved myself forward before Plowey took over. The pace was really high, so to take a top-10 after all we’ve been through is a great result. Now we’ve got time to reset over the winter, and come back stronger.”

Martin Plowman said: “I’m really happy with how the race went and super proud of our team and what they achieved this weekend. The car felt great right out of the box, which is amazing when you consider the amount of work that went into it in such a short time. We did perhaps cook our rear tyres, and were chasing the balance a bit, but overall we got to enjoy a great race today and brought home a strong result for the team. And to see the GT4 car on the podium was just the icing on the cake! It’s been a good end to the season.”

Kavi Jundu said: “It was a challenging race but it feels so good to finally get that podium. It feels like it’s been long overdue as we’ve had a lot of rubbish luck, and I thought we might have lost it after the stops, but Tom drove a brilliant last stint and got us back into it. I pushed hard in my stint to pressure the two Ginettas up front, and when they went off right in front of me I knew I had to keep things clean as there were a lot of cars starting to hit trouble. Then the pits were so busy when I came in that our lollipop man got blocked and it’s so hard to see your box in that situation. You can’t reverse, so we basically had to do a drive-through before I could swap with Tom. But watching him bring it back, and to be up on that podium, that’s a good way to finish the season.”

Tom Gamble said: “I really enjoyed the weekend with Paddock. It’s a great team and we made a load of progress with the setup in both the wet and dry across the weekend. Kavi did a great job during the first stint, then we just got unlucky in the stops, but when I got into the car I was so in the zone, just pushing as hard as I could while trying to avoid track limits warnings, and it all came good. It’s always great to be on the podium, and I’m really glad I could help the team achieve that this weekend.”

Paddock Motorsport now enters the winter season, with all eyes set on returning to the British GT Championship in 2024.

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Paddock to run Porsche for British GT finale

September 18, 2026

Mark Smith will return the Porsche brand to the British GT3 field for the season finale at Brands Hatch, with Paddock Motorsport taking over the operation of a 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 R. After almost four full British GT Championship seasons of competition with Paddock’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, Smith has opted to evaluate additional opportunities ahead of next season and has facilitated the switch to the Porsche. Despite the move, Paddock’s strong relationship with McLaren remains unaffected, with the team still planning to operate GT3, GT4 and McLaren Trophy Europe programmes with the Woking brand in 2027 and beyond. The 911 GT3 R will make its competitive debut with Smith and Martin Plowman at the wheel in the forthcoming GT Cup event at Brands Hatch this coming weekend, before the pair will contest the British GT finale with the 911 at the Kent venue over September 26/27. It means Paddock will return to full strength for the last race of the season, with the Porsche slotting in beside the race-winning McLaren Artura GT4 entry of Revie Lake and Blake Angliss. Having become regular top-five challengers with the McLaren across recent seasons – including scoring their breakthrough GT3 Pro-Am podium at Oulton Park this year – the switch to Porsche machinery for Smith and Plowman allows the team to evaluate additional GT3 programmes ahead of next season, alongside its plans to compete with McLaren in both British and European categories. Paddock has now taken delivery of the 911, which was the last Porsche to feature in British GT’s top class in 2025 when it was shared by Nick Jones and Sven Müller and run by Team Parker Racing. To aid the technical switch for the two events, Paddock’s engineering team will be bolstered by selected staff from leading German team Black Falcon, which has extensive experience of competing with the Porsche 911 GT3 in events such as the Nürburgring 24 Hours and German GT Cup. The two teams worked together during a recent test at the Nürburgring to get an initial feel for the project and the Black Falcon staff will be embedded within Paddock’s HQ for the duration of the two race events. The Porsche 911 GT3 R features a 4.2-litre flat-six Boxer engine capable of producing around 565bhp (dependent on Balance of Performance), a six-speed sequential transmission and weighs 1250kg.

Breakthrough GT4 glory for Paddock after dominant Donington display

September 7, 2026

Paddock Motorsport produced a flawless performance at Donington Park last weekend, with Revie Lake and Blake Angliss flying to both a breakthrough win for themselves and a maiden overall British GT4 success for the team. The #84 McLaren Artura proved unbeatable across mixed conditions in the Midlands, with Angliss and Lake each putting in a star turn to lead the two-hour British GT race from lights to flag, eventually securing the sort of crushing win their pace of late has deserved. After disappointments from promising positions at both Spa-Francorchamps and Snetterton, there would be no misfortune this time as the Paddock McLaren started and ended the weekend strong. After going fastest of all in opening practice, Lake and Angliss originally qualified third on the grid, but were promoted to pole after the two Ginettas ahead were excluded for a technical infringement. Even then success was far from guaranteed, with heavy rain before the race meaning the majority of the field lined up on wet tyres, but knowing the returning sun would quickly dry the track.

Full focus on the 4: Paddock sets sights on GT4 honours at Donington

September 4, 2026

Paddock Motorsport will set its full focus on fighting for GT4 honours at this weekend’s British GT Championship event at Donington Park. With the team’s McLaren GT3 entry skipping the penultimate race of the season, Paddock will throw its full weight behind the Artura GT4 shared by Revie Lake and Blake Angliss as the team continues to hunt success regardless. Lake and Angliss have been something of a form pairing since joining the Paddock team from the mid-season visit to Spa-Francorchamps, even if luck has so far not been on their side. Even though Paddock took over the operation of the ex-Mahiki Racing Artura only days before Spa, Lake and Angliss qualified the car on the front row of a giant GT4 grid which combined the British GT cars with those of the French GT and Alpine Cup series. After that Lake grabbed the race lead and looked set to challenge for the win before a gearbox glitch struck. Last time out at Snetterton, the pair again showed their speed with Lake placing the Artura third on the grid for Race 1, only to have his race ended before the end of the first sector after being harpooned by a Ginetta heading into Turn 2. Similar misfortune befell Angliss in Race 2, as an early puncture meant an additional pit stop and cost the crew a lap. The team will be hoping that their third event together proves the charm this weekend, with the Artura fully refreshed and ready to go again, this time with the hope that its undoubted qualifying pace can translate into a strong result for Lake and Angliss.

Podium pace goes unrewarded for Paddock amid Snetterton setbacks

August 17, 2026

Paddock Motorsport endured a frustratingly fruitless weekend at Snetterton, despite the team producing arguably its strongest overall British GT Championship performance to date. Both Paddock’s McLaren GT3 and Artura GT4 crews showed performance that on any other weekend would have carried them to the podium. However, through no fault of their own, both cars suffered setbacks that meant the team received no reward for its hard work. Mark Smith and Martin Plowman were fighting for what would have been their breakthrough overall British GT3 podium in Sunday’s opening race, with Smith having just taken third spot overall on track when the #9 McLaren was taken out, clattering the barriers and leaving the result in ruins. Even though the team worked wonders to repair the resulting steering, suspension, bodywork and toe-link damage – plus fully reset the car’s geometry – in time for Plowman to take the start of Race 2, a gearbox failure directly traced back to the earlier damage prevented them from even salvaging some points from the event. The bad luck wasn’t restricted to the GT3 side of the garage either, with Revie Lake and Blake Angliss twice losing a shot at a strong result to freak issues. Lake had qualified the #84 Artura third for Sunday’s opener and looked set to challenge for a trophy, but the car’s race was ended after just two corners when Lake was harpooned by and out-of-control Ginetta heading into Wilson hairpin. Again, the team did well to repair the damage, allowing Angliss to start from ninth in the finale, but his charge was halted by an early puncture that cost an additional pit stop to repair. The sole silver lining was a fourth place in GT4 Silver, but it was a tale of what could have been.

Snetterton sprints set to kick-start second half of British GT season

August 14, 2026

Paddock Motorsport will resume its charge for British GT Championship silverware at Snetterton this weekend, with the return of the series’ sprint format giving double the chance to impress. After a two-month break since the last event at Spa-Francorchamps, Mark Smith and Martin Plowman will reunite aboard the #9 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, while Paddock will also continue the operation of the ex-Mahiki Racing McLaren Artura GT4 shared by Revie Lake and Blake Angliss. The return to action in Norfolk marks the second and final sprint event of the season, where the usual standalone race is replaced by two flat-out 60-minute sprints. Traditionally, these have been the races that Smith and Plowman have excelled in, with the pair scoring their strongest British GT result yet in the last sprint round at Oulton Park, finishing fourth overall and securing a place on the GT3 Pro-Am podium for the first time. Unlike the longer solo races, each driver gets a chance to qualify for, and finish, one of the sprints. Smith will qualify the GT3 for Race 1 and take the wheel for the start, before Plowman sets the grid slot for Race 2 before handing to Smith for the run to the flag. With minimal strategy involved, sheer speed is first and foremost, with Paddock’s McLaren faring well in the timesheets so far this year. With its prime race engine restored ahead of the last round at Spa, the car’s pace was masked by the sheer traffic of the 55-car combined grid as British GT mixed with the French GT Championship and Alpine Cup. The pair banked solid points for eighth place overall in what became a race of survival – maintaining fifth in the GT3 Pro-Am points as a result. With a more manageable 24 cars expected around Snetterton’s 300 Circuit this weekend there will be plenty of extra space to attack. The three-mile Norfolk venue is second only to Spa in terms of the longest lap of the British GT season, and it’s a track Smith in particular has excelled at. The American driver celebrated three outright wins from four GT Cup races there last season, while he and Plowman also scored an impressive fifth place during last season’s British GT meeting. Hopes are high the duo can continue to build on that sort of form this weekend. Likewise, Lake and Angliss have also shown great promise since switching to run under the Paddock banner. Despite their move coming just before the last round in Belgium, the pair qualified on the front row in GT4 and were leading the race before a gearbox gremlin denied them. With the technical team enjoying additional time to service and re-prepare the Artura, the duo should be ones to watch in the GT4 hunt.

Podiums aplenty for Paddock in McLaren Trophy Europe scorcher at Misano

July 22, 2026

Paddock Motorsport added yet more silverware to its ever-growing McLaren Trophy Europe collection after another stellar performance at Misano last weekend, with Mark Smith scoring the team’s first class victory of the season while Luca Magnussen and Callum Davies continued to prove their Pro class title credentials. Away from his British GT duties with the team, American driver Smith made an instant impact on his Trophy debut in the third of Paddock Motorsport’s McLaren Arturas in Italy, grabbing an Am class triumph in the opening race. That contributed to a total of five podium finishes out of a possible six across the weekend for the team. One of those came in the Pro class, where Magnussen and Davies battled to their fourth outright podium of the season, a result that keeps the duo out front in the championship points. After impressive results at both Monza and Spa-Francorchamps, the squad travelled back to Italy for two races held in intense summer heat at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Magnussen and Davies were reunited in the #23 Pro class Artura alongside Matthew Higgins and David Coelho in the #50 Pro-Am car and Smith’s Am entry.

5, 3, 2, 1... Paddock secures stunning McLaren Trophy haul at Spa

June 29, 2026

Paddock Motorsport beat the heat to claim five podium finishes across its three cars in two scorching McLaren Trophy Europe races at Spa-Francorchamps, earning one Team of the Weekend award in the process. The stunning haul of a total 11 pieces of silverware was split across the trio of Luca Magnussen and Callum Davies’ Pro class Artura Trophy Evo and the Pro-Am entries shared by David Coelho/Matthew Higgins and Maximilian Tarillion/Kevin Rohrscheidt. All three Paddock crews appeared on the podium at least once, with Magnussen and Davies claiming a pair of third places – the second taken after a stunning charge from the back of the grid – Tarillion and Rohrscheidt taking a third and second, and Coelho and Higgins scoring their breakthrough podium with second place in Race 1.

Paddock claims points across an ultra-demanding British GT race at Spa

June 24, 2026

Paddock Motorsport emerged from what was perhaps the most demanding British GT Championship race ever with a solid haul of points, with Mark Smith and Martin Plowman securing an eighth-place finish at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend. With the British GT field combined with cars from the French GT Championship and European Alpine Cup, a 55-car ‘mega grid’ would compete across two hours in the Ardennes, however the addition of so many GT4 and production-spec machines made the weekend a minefield of traffic of the GT3 runners. In many ways, ideal car setup mattered less here than anywhere, with traffic management and sheer fortune being more valuable in generating laptime. Smith and Plowman emerged second-fastest overall during second practice, but the #9 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo would have to serve a grid drop regardless following an incident at Oulton Park. That meant Smith took the wheel from 11th for the start on Sunday afternoon. The baking heat of Spa added an extra dimension, making the race a huge challenge both inside the car and out.

Paddock poised for a boost as British GT heads to Spa

June 19, 2026

Paddock Motorsport continues its British GT Championship campaign at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, with the team keen to push on from its breakthrough podium finish last time out. Mark Smith and Martin Plowman head to the third round of the season full of confidence after securing their first British GT3 podium finish as a driver pairing in the last outing at Oulton Park, a result that has been long in the making and elevates them to fourth place in the GT3 Pro-Am standings. That result was also taken against the backdrop of the team having to run its spare engine in the #9 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, with Oulton’s tight and twisty nature helping to mask any power deficit. However, for Spa Paddock’s prime unit has been freshly rebuilt, and will undoubtedly be a key addition given the power-hungry nature of the Belgian Grand Prix track. Spa represents the longest lap of the year, at 4.3miles, with GT3s nudging 165mph along the Kemmel Straight after the near-flat-out run up Eau Rouge/Raidillon, which pushes cars and drivers to their limits. This event also features a different sort of challenge with the British GT grid combined with that of the French GT Championship and Alpine Cup to create a monster 60-car field. As French GT only caters for GT4-spec machinery, the GT3 field will effectively have three times the amount of traffic than usual to navigate across the two-hour race. This will place the emphasis on clean and consistent racing, something which Paddock should excel at given Smith and Plowman have scored class points in each of the last nine British GT races, a run stretching back to Oulton Park last year.

Paddock pockets podiums in superb McLaren Trophy Europe opener

June 1, 2026

Paddock Motorsport began its 2026 McLaren Trophy Europe campaign in electric fashion with two podium finishes at Monza last weekend, where Callum Davies and Luca Magnussen clinched a superb second place overall on their series debut. The latter’s achievement came against the odds in the first of two intense races at the Italian circuit, as a fast-starting Davies climbed from seventh to third early on, before sportscar rookie Magnussen further improved to launch Paddock’s assault in style. Steven Lake and Maximilian Tarillion added a Pro-Am trophy to the collection, with third in class the following day, while David Coelho and Matthew Higgins banked solid points in their own Pro-Am entry. The squad travelled to the famous Temple of Speed with its biggest ever McLaren Trophy entry, the trio led by the #23 pairing of Magnussen and Davies in the Pro class, alongside two Pro-Am Arturas for the respective combinations of Lake/Tarillion and Higgins/Coelho.