Beeson and Clark put Century Motorsport on Pole for Donington British GT

(Photo: Paren Raval)

Jonathon Beeson and Charles Clark claimed a maiden British GT Championship pole position for Century Motorsport at Donington Park, putting their #44 BMW M4 GT3 Evo at the front of the grid for Sunday’s two-hour endurance battle.

The combined qualifying session across the Leicestershire circuit delivered relentless drama. Beeson opened the team’s charge in the first GT3 session, placing fourth while Optimum Motorsport’s Marc Warren set the early benchmark in the #90 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. However, the dynamic shifted in the second segment when Clark unleashed a relentless pace in the BMW. Clark’s effort hauled the Century Motorsport crew to the top of the combined times, snatching aggregate pole position by a razor-thin 0.066-second margin.

Championship contenders Barwell Motorsport pushed Century all the way. Hugo Cook and Rob Collard missed out on the top spot by the tightest of margins in their #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, locking down second place on the front row. Barwell secured further strategic strength with their sister entry of Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski taking third, keeping both of their cars firmly in the title hunt. Early pace-setters Warren and Jack Brown eventually settled for fourth overall for Optimum Motorsport, closely followed by their championship-leading teammates Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat in fifth.

Despite Clark’s heroics, the fastest individual lap of the afternoon belonged to series debutant Chris Lulham. Driving the #18 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo shared with Kevin Tse, Lulham posted a blistering 1m25.528s tour late in the session—denying Clark top individual honors and anchoring the car into sixth on tomorrow’s grid.

In GT4, title challengers Hadley Simpson and Thomas Holland delivered an outstanding performance to head up an all-Ginetta front row for Innovation Racing. The pair combined to secure pole position despite a heroic late effort in the second session from Jack Mitchell. Mitchell set the fastest individual GT4 lap time of the afternoon in the Toro Verde GT Ginetta G56 he shares with Luke Shaw, elevating their car from fourth to second overall on the combined screens.

With razor-thin margins separating the front-runners in both classes and vital championship points on the line, tomorrow’s two-hour contest at Donington Park promises an explosive fight from the green flag.