GT & Sports Car Cup Race Report: BRDC International Trophy Silverstone, 30th May 2026
Congratulations to our GT & Sports Car Cup season opening Race Winners
P1 - Connor Kay & James Hughes - Lotus Elan 26R
P2 - John & Gary Pearson - Jaguar E-Type
P3 - Richard Hudson & Stuart Morley - Lister Chevrolet Knobbly
GTSCC Rookies Win with Elan
You never get a second chance to make a first impression, as the old saying goes. For series debutants Connor Kay and James Hughes to win the opening GT & Sports Car Cup event of its 20th season in a 26R spec Lotus Elan on Silverstone’s Historic Grand Prix circuit it certainly rang true. Only the third Elan crew to score an outright victory - Andrew Haddon/Andy Wolfe having triumphed at Castle Combe in 2020, Donington in 2021 and Portugal’s Autodromo do Algarve in 2022; Robin Ellis/Julian Thomas at Enna-Pergusa in 2024 - Kay, at 23, was the first competitor born in the 21st century to top the prestigious invitation series’ podium!
With a combined age of 60, the Kay/Hughes combo, a strong second first time out in the previous Monday’s Classic K event on Brands Hatch’s Indy Circuit, literally got together on their race debuts at Snetterton in 2022. “We had a little ding, nothing too serious, but it ended my race,” recalled James. They laugh about it now, having dueled wheel-to-wheel in hot ‘Spridgets’ many times since.
If ever there was a perfect example of the balance of power, weight and agility of diverse cars making a wonderful race our two-hour contest on the 3.6393 mile version of the F1 course - with Club corner’s approach ameliorated to reduce wear and tear on the brakes and transmissions of Pre-1966 machines by a fluid sweeper in place of the stop/go tight left exit Vale - this was it.
In the early exchanges there was nothing to choose between the snarling Jaguar E-type of Gary Pearson - winner here in 2022 and 2023 with brother John - Richard Hudson’s gruff Lister-Chevrolet Knobbly in the hands of Stuart Morley and Kay, starting the sleek little Elan entered by his father Guy’s Tapchanger stable. Each car was driven to its strengths, but despite the Lister pulling 146.8mph on the Hangar Straight, to the E-type’s 141.5 and the Elan’s 129.5mph [fractionally more than the best Healeys], their lap times on the challenging layout were stunningly similar.
Time and time again the poise of the Jag and sheer grunt of the thuggish V8-engined Lister were matched by the remarkable apex speeds and directional change dynamics of the lightweight Lotus. After Hudson, Dunlop tyre distributor John Pearson and Cheshire golf professional Hughes had taken their turns, the Elan took the chequered flag 11.778s before the E-type - fractionally delayed by a single rear tyre change at the second stops. The burly sports racer was another 70 seconds down in third, less than 14 ahead of the Jaguar of 2009 Silverstone victor John Clark and Ben Mitchell, who had lost half of that with trip through the gravel at Woodcote.
The GT3 scrap was tight too, the top four teams finishing on the same lap. Oliver Marçais/Jeremy Welch beat fellow Austin-Healey 3000 crew Alex Hewitson/Jack Rawles, with Allan and Daniel Ross-Jones (Triumph TR4) and Piers and Joe Ward’s Healey in hot pursuit.
In multi-marque GT2, Mark Hope/Jason Minshaw (MGB) bested Malcolm Paul/Rick Bourne (TVR Grantura) by a lap with Nick and Chris Thompson’s B third, chased by Alice and Richard Locke in their pretty ex-works/John Fitzpatrick Broadspeed GTS, the sole Touring Car entry a fine 14th of the 23 finishers.
We were thrilled to welcome long-time MGB competitors Brian and Barbara Lambert as guests. They were rapidly co-opted onto Joe and Piers Ward’s team, cheerfully manning their pit board. The Wards, ninth overall, deservedly won the Royal Automobile Club family award. Congratulations also to emerging Lotus Elite duo Benjamin Tarlow and Mark Hamilton-Peters, popular recipients of the Automobiles Historiques Drivers of the Day prize.
In the hospitality marquee, the traditional toothsome catering was sponsored by Denis Welch Motorsport, for which sisters Arabella and Emily Welch flew the flag spiritedly on their first visit to the track with their MGB, alongside past master dad Jeremy on Healey duty.
QUALIFYING
Twenty-nine teams arrived at the self-styled “Home of British Motor Racing” for our compact one-day event which showcased historic cars against modern ones on the British Racing Drivers’ Club’s International Trophy programme. No longer a big buck non-championship F1 fixture sponsored by the Daily Express newspaper - an era which closed in 1978, with its name subsequently lent to an Aurora British F1 round in 1980 - it was headlined by the F4 British Championship and live-streamed with its support programme to the world on YouTube.
Friday’s pre-event test day brought dramas for Morgan +4 Super Sports stalwart Simon King, whose transmission broke. Unable to fix it in situ, co-driver John Emberson’s sister machine was pressed into service.
All engines were fired up for the 40-minute qualifying session at 10.50. Local ace Gary Pearson laid down the time which would annex pole within three laps, his 2m25.185s (90.24mph) best in the gunmetal Jaguar half a second quicker than Morley’s 2:25.694 in the Lister. Kay’s 2:26.246 in the Elan was three tenths better than Mitchell’s in Clark’s E-type. Just 1.396s separated the top quartet which augured well for the race.
Hughes, who had enjoyed a short safety-car interrupted intro to the Elan in a Classic K clubbie at Brands Hatch five days earlier, only completed three laps in the session. “I heard a knock from the rear and thought it might be a half-shaft gone. I pitted but fortunately it turned out to be only a wheel spinner coming loose. Connor then jumped in and did a stellar job to qualify third.”
The swiftest of six GT3 Healey 3000s, Marçais/Welch’s TSU 680 - in which Oliver had acclimatised at Donington - sat fifth on 2:32.794 (85.74mph), a scant 0.210s ahead of Hewitson’s, which Rawles finished with a flourish. Behind, Canadian Read Gomm’s E-type low-drag coupe, shared with Andy Keith-Lucas, and the AC Cobra Daytona Coupe of David Smithies/Chris Clarkson, the Healeys of Crispin Harris/James Wilmoth and Robert Jennings/Richard Woolmer were ninth and 10th, paired in the 2:35s.
Beaten into second overall by a whisker at last year’s Portuguese finale - at the wheel of Kyle Tilley’s clockwork orange Lotus 15 - Olly Bryant returned to Michael O’Sullivan’s Elite here and whirled the little 1216cc Climax FWE engined coupe round in a brilliant 2:36.589 (83.66mph), for 11th and GT2 pole by 1.5 seconds. Mark Pangborn/Harvey Woods (Healey 3000) - destined to non-start when its clutch seal failed - separated them from TVR Grantura MkIII stalwarts Malcolm Paul/Rick Bourne.
The super-competitive mid-pack continued with the Healey of father and son Joe and Piers Ward, and the packets of eight MGBs, the pale blue example by Mark Hope and Jason Minshaw on 2:40.050. That put them 15th, on the grid’s fulcrum point. Allan and Daniel Ross-Jones’ Triumph TR4 was also in the 40s. Blanketed by 0.401s behind sat Nick and Chris Thompson’s MGB, Americans Benjamin Tarlow/Mark Hamilton-Peters in their Elite and the distinctive maroon Broadspeed GTS fastback of Alice Locke and dad Richard.
When George Grant’s own MGB wasn’t ready, he did not want to miss the event so hired another from Paul Woolmer’s equipe. The modern Mazda MX-5 racer qualified third of the B brigade, split from Ian Stinton/Tony Wood’s by the quicker Triumph engined Morgan +4 SS in the hands of King and Emberson. Sharlie Goddard/Graeme Smith’s Morgan was a second shy of its sister, with the MGBs of Ian Beattie/Thomas Poulton, Jonathan Hopper/Chris Ward - before engine failure trailer it - Beverley, Chris and Oliver Phillips and the Welch sisters, Emily making her Silverstone debut, sharpened by a fresh engine.
The Lotus Elites of American debutants Lee Hower/Tim Gregorio and Britons David Cooke/Andrew Yates - with its distinctive narrow ducted nose from the pen of Frank Costin - completed the line-up. The 31-second spread of times from front to back suggested lapping the slowest cars every five circuits for the frontrunners, and an extremely busy race with constant overtaking once the traffic spread out. An exciting prospect for spectators/streamers and a challenge to focus everybody on track.
RACE
A veteran of hundreds of race starts, controller Gary Pearson led the 27-strong pack round on the rolling lap and judged his Jaguar’s revs perfectly as the red lights went out to get the race under way at 15.26. Morley tracked him in the white Lister, with Kay’s nimble Lotus snapping at its heels in the corners like an enthusiastic terrier.
As fourth-placed John Clark settled into his rhythm, Smithies fired his Ford France liveried Cobra coupe down the Hangar Straight, thundering past the Healeys of Hewitson and Marçais into Stowe on the opening lap. Harris, Gomm - starting his achingly beautiful low-drag E-type - and Piers Ward completed the top 10 at the end of the opening lap. Jennings’ Healey and Tarlow’s Elite, up five places from 17th to 12th after an incredible getaway, were in hot pursuit.
Ross-Jones Sr establishing the lone TR4 and the replacement King/Emberson Morgan up six positions to 14th were next - ahead of O’Sullivan and Paul finding their equilibrium within the pack with the MGBs of Thompson and Hope. The Locke’s Broadspeed and Grant led Goddard and Beattie who clawed past Stinton in the early skirmishes. Meanwhile, Beverley Phillips’ B slipped behind Arabella Welch’s sister car and the Elites of Hower and Cooke.
Early casualties, disappointingly with just three laps on their slates, were Harris’ Healey with engine problems and Smithies’ thunderous 4.7-litre Ford V8-engined Cobra, which fell to an unprecedented gearbox failure. Repairs are in hand and it will be back in the fray at Anglesey at the end of this month.
Six lap in the Emberson/King Morgan was in the pits, sounding very sick. The end had broken off a rocker in the valve train. Rather than throw in the towel, ace engineer Brian replaced the offending item with one from his van at a cost of over 40 minutes, but the car continued to the chequer, 15 laps adrift of the GT2 winners.
The opening 45 minutes of the two compulsory stop race made compelling viewing, with Gary Pearson and vintage Bentley ace Morley slugging it out down the straights and Kay tucking into their considerable slipstream and buzzing round them in the twiddly bits. Connor managed to poke the Elan’s nose ahead of the Lister to cross TSL’s timing stripe second on one occasion, then glued himself to the Jaguar’s tail when Stuart relayed Richard Hudson after 17 laps.
The leaders pitted together, a second apart, two laps later, moments after a safety car was deployed. O’Sullivan had hooked a rear wheel of his Elite over the kerb on the exit of the Vale/Club sweeper and spun harmlessly opposite The Wing. Undamaged, the Lotus was towed out and eventually restarted, having lost several laps. The caution lasted about 15 minutes.
“Stuart drives that Lister brilliantly,” reflected Gary afterwards. “Every time we found traffic he was nibbling at my back bumper. And we were both kept on our toes by Connor in the Elan.” Kay, clearly enjoying himself, was super consistent throughout his stint. “I think that Gary was conserving his brakes, with a long way to go, but realistically they had the pace to win.”
After solid middle stints by John Pearson, Hughes and Hudson, Mitchell in Clarky’s iridescent blue Jag, Jeremy Welch in the Marçais Healey and Keith-Lucas in Gomm’s E-type demoted the Lister to sixth before Morley leapt back into its open cockpit. At that point, 33 laps in, the order was Pearson, Mitchell and Hughes out front, with Jeremy about to relay Oliver to the finish.
There was action in the Pearsons Engineering pit when John came after 34 laps, one earlier than planned. “He felt a vibration at the back and thought he might have a slow puncture, so we changed the left rear tyre,” said Gary, who jumped back aboard as the race - still wide open - entered its final phase. “That dropped us behind the Elan, but a safety car ultimately decided the result. It picked up the Elite ahead of me, not the Elan, and we lost about 20 seconds to Connor.”
Ironically, the Morgan which had gyrated and stalled at Stowe, got going again and the caution was over inside a lap. That brief hiatus, just after the second round of stops, reduced the integers between the cars. Back aboard the Lister, Morley charged anew when the field was freed, overhauling Marçais’ class-leading Healey five laps from home, then relieving Clark’s E-type of third on the penultimate tour.
Marçais pitted on his final lap with a broken suspension king pin, losing fifth overall to Gomm’s Jaguar, on 44 laps a circuit shy of the top four, but not GT3 gold! The leading Healey’s speed was never in question. Oliver and Jeremy set the class pace from the off. While their relative pace was little different from that of their pursuers over their 43-lap adventure, they remained tantalisingly beyond the reach of Hewitson and Rawles, whose short mid-stint put the silver blue car’s strategy slightly out of kilter with the majority.
The Ross-Jones TR4, which made its first driver change before the rush for the pit lane, ran a solid eighth for the majority of the race, then overtook Hope’s GT2 leading MGB for seventh - and third in class - seven laps from home. The Wards’ Healey followed suit a lap later to land eighth, fourth of the GT3 finishers, a lap clear of Jennings/Woolmer’s similar machine.
The GT2 fight was interesting, showcasing a battle between the nimble Lotus Elites, sturdy MGBs and the lone TVR Grantura. Starting from class pole, courtesy of mentor Olly Bryant, O’Sullivan found himself shaken down the order with Paul’s red ‘Grannie’ in the early stages. Tarlow’s Elite thus took up the cudgels, followed by the King/Emberson Morgan before it hit trouble on lap 6, advantaging the Lockes’ Broadspeed.
Bourne/Paul climbed back to second in class, ahead of the Thompsons’ B which, like the Lockes’ Mini-derived tourer, took advantage of the Tarlow/Hamilton-Peters Lotus which faded to fourth in its division, having covered one and two laps more respectively than the MGs of Grant and Stinton/Wood. The Welch sisters, the family Phillips and the pale green Cooke/Yates Elite were the last competitive runners, blanketed by 15 seconds.
The Elites of O’Sullivan/Bryant and Hower/Gregorio, plus the hobbled King/Emberson Morgan were the final classified finishers.
Gary Pearson never stopped trying to close the gap to the winning Elan, setting the race’s fastest lap of 2:27.367s (88.90mph) five laps from the finish. Morley came within a whisker of the mark when he posted a fine 2:27.436 (88.86mph) a couple of laps later. Marçais’ first full racing lap was GT3’s quickest, at 2:33.716 (85.23mph), and Bryant’s 2:37.605 (83.13mph) the GT2 standard. For the record, Alice Locke’s late 2:41.181 (81.28mph) shot in the Broadspeed was almost half a second inside the car’s Q-time!
Next stop on the GTSCC calendar is our 90-minute race at Trac Môn Angelsea Coastal Circuit, Saturday, June 27th. After that, we are back on track at the popular Castle Combe Autumn Classic - highlight of the event - on Saturday, September 14. Then of course, we head to Portugal for our traditional finale at the magnificent Autodromodo Internacional, 30/31 October & 1 November. Contact Vanessa to secure your entries cars@automobileshistoriques.com
ENDS - MARCUS PYE
GTSCC Overall & GT4 Class Winners - Connor Kay & James Hughes - Lotus Elan 26R
2nd Overall - John & Gary Pearson - Jaguar E-Type
3rd Overall & SP2 Class Winners - Richard Hudson & Stuart Morley - Lister Chevrolet Knobbly
GT2 Class Winners - Mark Hope & Jason Minshaw - MG B
GT3 Class Winners - Oliver Marçais & Jeremy Welch - Austin Healey 3000
TC1 Class Winners - Richard & Alice Locke - Mini Broadspeed GTS
'The Royal Automobile Club Family Award' Winners - Joe & Piers Ward, Austin-Healey 3000
Automobiles Historiques 'Drivers of the Day' - Ben Tarlow & Mark Hamilton Peters
GT4 Class Podium - Winners Connor Kay & James Hughes, 2nd John & Gary Pearson, 3rd John Clark & Ben Mitchell
GT3 Class Podium - Winners Oliver Marçais & Jeremy Welch, 2nd Alexander Hewitson & Jack Rawles, 3rd Allan & Daniel Ross-Jones
GT2 Class Podium - Winners Mark Hope & Jason Minshaw, 2nd Malcolm Paul & Rick Bourne, 3rd Nick & Chris Thompson
SP2 Class Podium - Winners Richard Hudson & Stuart Morley
TC1 Class Podium - Winners Richard & Alice Locke
The Royal Automobile Club Family Award, presented by Alice Locke representing the Royal Automobile Club to Joe & Piers Ward
Automobiles Historiques 'Drivers of the Day' - presented to Ben Tarlow & Mark Hamilton Peters
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE RACE WINNERS
GT2 - Mark Hope & Jason Minshaw, MG B
GT3 - Oliver Marçais & Jeremy Welch, Austin-Healey 3000
GT4 - Connor Kay & James Hughes, Lotus Elan 26R
SP2 - Richard Hudson & Stuart Morley, Lister Chevrolet Knobbly
TC1 - Richard & Alice Locke, Mini Broadspeed GTS
The Royal Automobile Club Family Award
Joe & Piers Ward, Austin-Healey 3000
'Drivers of the Day'
Ben Tarlow & Mark Hamilton Peters, Lotus Elite
GTSCC - BRDC International Trophy Silverstone Results
All images Copyright: Charlie Brenninkmeijer (CharlieB.Photography)
2026 GT & SPORTS CAR CUP CALENDAR
Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, International Trophy
Saturday 30th May
—
Anglesey Trac Môn
Saturday 27th June
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Autumn Classic, Castle Combe
12th September
—
Algarve Classic Festival, Portimao
30th/31st October & 1st November
—
GTSCC PRIZE GIVING LUNCH
Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, London
Saturday 5th December