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.