Ginetta GT Championship and GT Academy Recap Silverstone

The 23-26 April marked the official start of the 2026 Ginetta GT Championship + Academy Season with the season opener at Silverstone, the home of British Motorsport.

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Practice Sessions

Day 1

The first day of practice sessions at Silverstone for the Ginetta GT Championship and GT Academy took place Thursday 23rd April and saw the drivers racing on a sunny and dry track. The first of the three sessions of this day saw Harry Gamble #23 leading the rest of the drivers, setting a time of 2:10.701. Behind Gamble was Nicholas #99, who was +0.486s behind, followed by Livesey #31 (+1.063s) and Caudle #51 (+1.221s). William Antrobus #57 wrapped up the top five for this session with a gap of +1.598s to Gamble. This session saw two drivers in each of E3 Sport and Orion SPR finish in the top 5. For GT Academy, the top 5 were #17 Luis Beilicke, #19 Joseph Ostholthoff, #21 Tom Walker, #66 Connor Blackburn and #53 Ash Young.

The second session saw Felix Livesey #31 leading the rest of the drivers, setting a time of 2:10.053. Behind Livesey was Gamble #23, who was +0.986s behind, followed by Caudle #51 (+1.920s) and Duncan #27 (+2.150s). William Antrobus #57 wrapped up the top five for this session with a gap of +2.424s to Livesey. This session saw both drivers from Orion SPR finish in the top 5. For GT Academy, the top 5 were #17 Luis Beilicke, #66 Connor Blackburn, #19 Joseph Ostholthoff, #21 Tom Walker and #30 Will Fallon.

The third session saw Harry Gamble #23 leading the rest of the drivers, setting a time of 2:10.664. Behind Gamble was Livesey #31, who was +0.087 s behind, followed by Antrobus #57 (+0.250s) and Foster #3 (+0.509s). James Nicholas #99 wrapped up the top five for this session with a gap of +0.849s to Gamble. This session saw Livesey and Antrobus both putting the Orion SPR cars in the top five yet again. For GT Academy, the top 5 were #17 Luis Beilicke, #19 Joseph Ostholthoff, #21 Tom Walker, #66 Connor Blackburn and #8 Ben Wiseman.

The final session of the day starting at 16:05 (GMT) saw William Antrobus #57 at the front of the pack with a time of 2:10.817. The rest of the top five was made up of Gamble #23 (+0.087), Livesey #31 (+0.255s), Nicholas #99 (+0.807s) and Duncan #27 (+0.900). The session was red-flagged at 16:31, four minutes before it was meant to finish and wasn’t resumed. For GT Academy, the top 5 were #17 Luis Beilicke, #19 Joseph Ostholthoff, #21 Tom Walker, #66 Connor Blackburn and #30 Will Fallon.

Day 2

The second day of practice sessions took place Friday 24rd April. The first of the three sessions of this day saw James Nicholas #99 leading the rest of the drivers, setting a time of 2:09.397. Behind Nicholas was Gamble #23 (+0.199s), followed by Antrobus #57 (+0.498s) and Pratt Thompson #37 (+0.640s). Felix Livesey #31 wrapped up the top five for this session with a gap of +0.986s to Nicholas. This session saw two of the Orion SPR cars in the top five. For GT Academy, the top 5 were #19 Joseph Ostholthoff, #21 Tom Walker, #13 Ian Beaumont, #66 Connor Blackburn and #30 Will Fallon.

The second session saw Felix Livesey #31 at the top of the classification with a time of 2:09.551. Behind him was Gamble #23 (+0.146s), followed by Antrobus #57 (+0.295s), Nicholas #99 (+0.646s) and Pratt Thompson #37 (+0.780s). For GT Academy, the top 5 were #17 Luis Beilicke, #66 Connor Blackburn, #21 Tom Walker, #19 Joseph Ostholthoff and #13 Ian Beaumont.

The third session saw Cameron Pratt Thompson #37 take the lead with a lap time of 2:09.632. Behind him was Livesey #31 (+0.395s), followed by Antrobus #57 (+0.822s), Duncan #27 (+1.066s) and Gamble #23 (+1.136s). For GT Academy, the top 5 were #17 Luis Beilicke, #21 Tom Walker, #30 Will Fallon, #92 Maxwell Waithman and #77 Alan Wright.

Ginetta GT Championship Qualifying

The Ginetta GT Championship qualifying session saw Cameron Pratt Thompson #37 for SVG Motorsport take pole with a time of 2:09.522. It was Felix Livesey #31 (+0.112s) and William Antrobus #57 (+0.146s) for Orion SPR that made up the top three.

Ginetta GT Academy Qualifying

The Ginetta Academy qualifying session saw Luis Beilicke #17 for Want2Race take pole with a time of 2:20.374. It was Ian Beaumont #13 (+0.848s) and Joseph Ostholtoff #19 (+0.925s) for SVG Motorsport and Want2Race that made up the top three.

Race 1 

The first race saw a podium of Harry Gamble #23 (Elite Motorsport), Cameron Pratt Thompson #37 for SVG Motorsport and Alex Duncan #27 for Xentek Motorsport. For GT Academy, the top 5 were #17 Luis Beilicke (Want2Race), #19 Joseph Ostholthoff (Want2Race) and #21 Tom Walker (E3 Sport). This race saw four retirements, those being Livesey, Hodgson, Darling and Blackburn. William Antrobus, who originally finished second, got disqualified from the results of the race for championship regulations for his fuel.

Race 2

William Antrobus had a great start to the race, taking the lead from Cameron Pratt Thompson. There was a spin at the club chicane for the #13 car - Ian Beaumont, who managed to get back on track. The #27 car, Alex Duncan, received a 5-second penalty for exceeding track limits and #3 Fallon also received a penalty. With 7 minutes to go, there was contact and the #7 car of Louis Darling went into the grass, making this his second non-finish of the weekend. Cameron Pratt Thompson and Faye Goff spun off the track, both cars managed to get back on track. For the GT Championship, the top five were - #57 Antrobus, #31 Livesey, #23 Gamble, #99 Nicholas and #51 Caudle. For GT Academy, the top three were #17 Luis Beilicke (Want2Race), #21 Tom Walker (E3 Sport) and #92 Maxwell Waithman (Want2Race).

Article written by Ria Wiktor ©️ Ria Wiktor 2026