Paddock Motorsport emerged from a scorching Bank Holiday British GT weekend at Oulton Park with both a breakthrough podium finish, and a best-ever result for Mark Smith and Martin Plowman. Fourth overall in the opening race stood as a huge achievement for the entire Paddock team, which was made even sweeter with one of the cars ahead running in a different class, meaning Smith and Plowman could stand on the GT3 Pro-Am podium for the first time together in what is their fourth full season as a pairing. The weekend itself presented a host of challenges, not least the 30+ degree heat on race day and the fact the team’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo was still fighting against a lack of outright grunt due to running its backup engine while the prime unit is being rebuilt. The power deficit was highlighted in qualifying, with Smith and Plowman barely featuring in the speed trap figures. However fine laps from both netted two promising grid slots for Monday’s races, with Smith taking the start for the opener from seventh. Come Monday the mercury climbed, with track temperatures reaching 38 degrees by the time the lights went out for the first race. Smith got a good launch to hold the inside line into Old Hall and then survived being on the inside of a three-car pinch that resulted in light contact and Smith having to avoid the spinning Optimum McLaren that was pincered in the middle. Despite this, Smith filtered through the chaos in fifth, with the American driver chasing down the Barwell Lamborghini driven by multiple race-winner Alex Martin. Knowing the car ahead would need to serve extra time during its pit stop courtesy of a strong result in the last race at Silverstone, Smith didn’t need to attack and instead kept the Huracan well in sight before pitting for Plowman, who leapfrogged ahead during the stops. Rejoining fourth, Plowman had his mirrors full of the Lambo, now driven by Jarrod Waberski. The upside of the high temperature was it also limited others’ straight-line speed, giving Paddock a better platform to fight with. Plowman held firm despite a late safety car reducing the race to a 12-minute sprint, taking the flag fourth overall and third in class, sparking huge celebrations in the garage. Race two proved tougher, with a cocktail of even higher temperatures, a safety car start denying any early overtaking opportunities and eventually a collision. Plowman started from 10th but despite the limited passing opportunities of the 40-degree track managed to work his way through to ninth before pitting. A clean swap got Smith out in position and on the tail of the Rodin Ferrari ahead, but a clash in the braking zone for the chicane delayed both cars and consigned the Paddock McLaren back to the pits with damage. Even if the finale proved short, there can be no taking the shine off what was otherwise an incredibly strong event for the entire Paddock team.

Paddock Motorsport will look to continue its British GT Championship scoring streak at Oulton Park this weekend, heading into the first double-header event of the year with a refreshed McLaren. Two single-hour sprint races await Mark Smith and Martin Plowman across Bank Holiday Monday at the Cheshire track as British GT makes its annual visit to the north for what is always a seasonal highlight. Oulton’s tight and twisty 2.69-mile layout places an emphasis on skill, balance and bravery over outright power. The track features little margin for error and several blind corners that demand a driver fully leans on and trusts the car underneath them. British GT competition at Oulton Park is fierce, with fractions of a second often separating the entire GT3 field, and this weekend’s event promises to be no different with an XX-car entry packed with quality. During the last event at Silverstone Paddock’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo emerged for a challenging weekend firmly inside the points. A turbo issue hampered qualifying before a lack of straight-line speed in the race also proved a hurdle. However, the team called the race brilliantly, coming home fifth in the GT3 Pro-Am order to kick-start the season with a strong points haul. Since then Paddock’s engineers have completely revised the McLaren, and the car that arrives at round two this weekend promises to be very different beneath the bodywork. The team feels it has found a balance between stability and raw speed, which was backed up by some promising testing results recently. While nobody knows where they truly lie in the pecking order until qualifying on Saturday, Smith and Plowman are confident of getting into the fight this weekend.

Mark Smith and Martin Plowman beat the odds to bank a healthy points score across the opening race of the British GT season at Silverstone last weekend, with the Paddock Motorsport team overcoming a string of challenges to make the result possible. An overnight turbo change was required to get the #9 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo race-ready for Sunday and, despite an ongoing battle to get the car back into its optimal performance window, Smith and Plowman fought their way from the back of the grid to finish ninth overall and an impressive fifth in the GT3 Pro-Am category. The showpiece three-hour Silverstone 500 weekend began with the team adapting the McLaren's setup to the 3.6-mile track's fast sweeps. Despite strong pace in pre-season testing, a change of conditions on the day made this more difficult, forcing the Paddock engineers to revise a host of settings to try and restore a solid handling balance. While they succeeded, a different issue hamstrung the team’s qualifying efforts when a turbo cracked and required a full replacement.

Paddock Motorsport will get its 2026 British GT Championship season underway this weekend, with Mark Smith and Martin Plowman raring to go for the showpiece Silverstone 500. The Northamptonshire track will host the opening British GT round for the first time since 2001 this weekend. The prestigious three-hour ‘500’ event always being a highlight of the calendar with the winners receiving the historic 1932 RAC Trophy for their efforts. That adds an extra motivation for the 18-strong GT3 entry which will duke it out for both the silverware and valuable early championship points. In total, the British GT grid has swelled to 29 cars, with a healthy GT4 entry also adding an extra challenge for the quicker GT3 cars to navigate. Entering their fourth British GT campaign together, Smith and Plowman are no strangers to the task ahead, and the #9 Paddock Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo has been fully refreshed ahead of the start of the new campaign. American driver Smith, who made his debut with Paddock in the 2022 British GT finale, has progressed to become one of the most promising amateur drivers in the series over recent years. He and Pro driver Plowman enjoyed a string of top-five results last year, scoring points in every race bar one, while Paddock’s McLaren successfully completed every racing lap of the 2025 campaign with a flawless mechanical record. It is experience and preparation such as this which will pay dividends in a race like the Silverstone 500, which presents some unique challenges. With no set pit windows and teams instead limited by having to make three mandatory driver changes across the race while not exceeding a strict maximum drive time of 65 minutes per stint and 100 minutes total per driver, it leaves strategy wide open. Paddock enjoyed its strongest Silverstone 500 yet last season, finishing eighth overall and with Smith featuring in the outright lead of the race at one point. To warm up, both Smith and Plowman enjoyed a recent test around the 3.6-mile track, and feel fully prepared for what lies ahead this weekend.

Paddock Motorsport has completed its initial two-car line-up for this year’s McLaren Trophy Europe, with two exciting driver combinations ready for action. Having already announced the arrival of the highly-rated Luca Magnussen – son of Le Mans legend Jan and younger brother of F1 ace Kevin – anticipation ahead of Paddock’s second season of European competition has been high for the first two cars, with a potential third entry also in the pipeline. Partnering Magnussen in the Pro class McLaren Artura Trophy Evo will be British racer Callum Davies, who switches across from a successful stint in the GT4 European Series for this year. Paddock will also be gunning for the Pro-Am title, with rising star Matthew Higgins joined by GT racing newcomer David Coelho in the team’s second Artura Trophy Evo. Between the first two cars, Paddock Motorsport aims to build on an impressive debut McLaren Trophy Europe season last year when its cars secured multiple class wins and the Am class title with Tim Docker handling its #78 Artura. Davies already boasts significant experience of racing McLaren GT cars, having recorded podium finishes in both the British GT Championship and GT4 European Series. He began his car-racing career with Ginetta, finishing second in the 2023 Ginetta GT Championship before graduating through the GT Cup and into British GT, scoring his breakthrough podium finish at Brands Hatch in 2024. Last year he stepped up to the European stage with an Artura GT4, celebrating a podium finish at Barcelona and securing a top-10 finish in the world’s toughest GT4 championship. Higgins joins the team as a highly exciting prospect. A professional karting driver with a string of successes – including becoming a two-time British champion and European champion, plus finishing third overall in the world championship – he graduated to GT racing in the GT Cup in 2024, winning the GTH category title at the first attempt. Success in Europe soon followed and he was also part of the winning GT4 team at last year’s 12 Hours of Mugello as well as impressing in selected GT4 European Series outings. The son of 10-time Rally America champion and Subaru factory ace David Higgins, Matthew will undoubtedly be one to watch in the Trophy this year. Coelho is another driver with rallying links, having competed in events around Europe and in his native Trinidad and Tobago. He has gained circuit racing experience in a Mazda MX-5 across recent seasons and has established himself as a frontrunner in the Caribbean Spec Miata Series. He will be making both his GT and European circuit racing debut this year alongside Higgins.

Paddock Motorsport returns to British GT in 2026 with Smith and Plowman aboard its new-look McLaren 720S GT3 Evo

+ Luca Magnussen signs up for 2026 McLaren Trophy Europe campaign + Paddock launches new partnership with Douglas Motorsport + Biggest-ever McLaren Trophy Europe entry on the cards The Magnussen name will return to the hot seat of a McLaren next season when Luca Magnussen tackles his maiden McLaren Trophy Europe campaign with Paddock Motorsport. The 16-year-old Dane – younger brother of ex-Formula 1 driver Kevin and son of multiple Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Jan Magnussen – is the first driver to commit to Paddock’s multi-car entry into the 2026 Trophy as he makes the step into GT racing. Magnussen’s arrival also signals the first success for a new partnership between Paddock and Douglas Motorsport, which will result in the teams sharing technical resources while also providing a clear pathway for drivers seeking to hone their skills in single-seaters before stepping onto the GT racing ladder. Despite only making his racing debut in 2021, Luca Magnussen has impressed across his career so far, competing in professional karting categories such as the Sydsvenskans Kart Champion Cup (SKCC), FIA Karting World and European championships while also representing his county in the FIA Motorsport Games. This season was his first in car racing and he became a GB4 Championship podium finisher during the third round of the year at Oulton Park. Magnussen will now swap the 2-litre Tatuus GB4 car for the 3-litre twin-turbocharged McLaren Artura. In doing so he reignites a link between his family name and the British brand that began exactly 30 years ago when Jan made his F1 debut with McLaren in the Pacific Grand Prix at Aida in 1995. Kevin then became a McLaren Young Driver in 2010, eventually going on to contest 20 Formula 1 grands prix with the team between 2014-15. Magnussen is the first driver to sign up to Paddock’s expanded McLaren Trophy Europe programme for 2026. The team made its European racing debut this season, quickly earning its breakthrough race wins at Brands Hatch before going on to claim the Am class title with Tim Docker. Luca Magnussen says: “I’m really excited to be making the move into the McLaren Trophy Europe and want to thank both Paddock Motorsport and Douglas Motorsport for making this opportunity possible. When I first tested the Artura at Silverstone I found it very different to the GB4 car, with huge power and grip. It was pretty incredible. Learning to drive with both ABS and traction control was a big difference as we don’t have those in GB4, but I’m already looking forward to getting back into the car and adapting more to it. My dream has always been to drive GT cars. Karts and single-seaters give you that experience and grounding as a young driver to learn, but my dream is to one day drive at Le Mans, hopefully alongside my brother, and this is a great step towards that. Working with Paddock and Douglas so far has been great, and I’m just really looking forward to more testing and the start of the season.”

On pure performance alone, Paddock Motorsport deserved a podium finish in the British GT Championship finale at Donington Park last weekend, and it was only a freak turn in the weather that denied Mark Smith and Martin Plowman a haul of silverware. Despite a tricky buildup, Smith and Plowman largely mastered the conditions during a turbulent final two-hour race of the season, entering the final quarter of the race with a podium finish in sight before a swing in the weather undid the #9 McLaren’s strategy. The pair still finished inside the top 10 overall and took home points for eighth place regardless, but what really shone through was the team effort across the season that has put the squad in a position to challenge for podiums at the highest level in British motorsport in the first place. Having swept the board with a quadruple victory in the GT Cup event that preceded the Donington Decider, Paddock’s McLaren had marked itself out as one to watch for the season finale, a fact that was rammed home with an impressive Pre-Qualifying performance from Smith, who registered the fourth-fastest time overall. Sadly, Qualifying itself wouldn’t prove so straightforward, with an early red flag to recover a stranded Mercedes-AMG disrupting the team’s plans. With a heavy headwind making setup unpredictable, a splitter issue led to some unpredictable handling and limited Smith and Plowman to a disappointed 11th on combined times. However, there was still all to play for on Sunday, and the team put on an eye-catching performance across a topsy-turvy race, coming within a whisker of scoring what would have been a sensational podium. A series of balance changes before the race start aimed at providing a more stable platform meant Smith went into the race with an untested setup, and getting a feel for the car would be made even more troubling by a series of rain showers hitting as the field circulated on slick tyres. Smith held station on the fringes of the top 10 through the worst of the first shower, then when the balance came to him as the track dried, the American driver excelled, scything his way up the order as the pit window approached. Smith pulled a series of great passes to move up to seventh before pitting to hand for Plowman at the halfway mark. The team opted to fit fresh slicks with the skies looking clear, and a clean service got Plowman installed and back out in fifth once the stops had cycled through. The return of heavy rain with 40 minutes of the race to run brought a crossroads though. On one hand, Plowman was coping well in the deteriorating conditions, impressively overtaking the Blackthorn Aston Martin of multiple champion Jonny Adam to snatch fourth. Plowman was also closing on the Orange Racing McLaren that occupied third. However, with more rain on the radar and conditions becoming increasingly unstable, the team made the decision to make an extra stop for wets in-line with the strategies of the cars around them... only for the rain to disappear soon after and scupper the plan. With the track now drying, Plowman was forced to ease off and nurse the overheating wets to 10th overall. However, with two non-scoring entries ahead, it would mean points for eighth as some form of reward. Still, the fact the Paddock team was able to turn around its qualifying troubles and manage such an eventful race to create the chance to challenge for a podium speaks volumes about the squad’s progress across the course of the 2025 season.

Paddock Motorsport heads into the British GT Championship season finale this weekend at Donington Park aiming to continue its current strong run of form with the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. Mark Smith and Martin Plowman will again handle the black-and-pink #9 McLaren and go into the finale full of confidence following a stunning warm up at the Derbyshire track during the GT Cup round last weekend. Driving solo, American racer Smith dominated the event, winning all four races – a mixture of sprint and endurance outings – regaining his lead in the GT3 Championship in the process. The results bring Smith’s tally of GT Cup wins this season to a remarkable 11 from the 18 races held so far. Beyond the headline stats, the additional mileage has also allowed the team to refine the setup of the McLaren GT3 and helped Smith to unlock more of the car’s potential through the additional seat time and confidence-boosting success. Donington is also the British track Smith knows best, having made his British GT debut with Paddock at the finale three years ago The combination of these factors means the team enters the final British GT round in a strong position. Even though British GT represents a step up in the level of competition, Paddock has established itself as a top-five contender across this season. A big points score in the finale would be the perfect way to cap what has been an impressive season of development.