British GT Championship – Silverstone

A week after his success at the 6 Hours of Imola, GT competitor Yasser Shahin has added more hardware to his resume, securing an outright win at the Silverstone 500 alongside fellow Australian Garnet Patterson.

Optimum Motorsport’s strategic masterstroke helped Shahin and Patterson lift the historic 1932 RAC Trophy, with the pair competing as a “guest entry”.

The three-hour session was firmly controlled by Darren Leung and Dan Harper who controlled the race from pole position for the first two-and-a-half hours, but a combination of Safety Car timing and Optimum’s pitstop gamble ultimately proved decisive.

The overall victory is the first time an Australian has won an outright event in the British GT Championship since Charlie Cox won at Croft in September 1997.

Starting on the grid in 9th, Optimum’s #3 McLaren wasn’t an obvious candidate to win British GT’s showpiece event, but a good getaway and clever strategy call approaching half-distance caught the more fancied runners by surprise before Safety Car timing ultimately helped seal the deal for Shahin and Patterson.

While one of Optimum’s pit strategies cost time, another ultimately helped Shahin and Patterson claim victory.

Their’s was the first GT3 entry to stop twice, and although it was made under green flag conditions after 70 minutes, it opened up the possibility of completing the third mandatory driver change during a hoped-for Safety Car period.

Leung, meanwhile, handed over to Harper with 40 minutes left aware that Optimum’s McLaren had effectively gained a free pitstop. Paradine’s crew were running the perfect race up to that point but had no answer for the rapidly advancing Patterson.

For fellow Australian Josh Buchan, it was a disappointing finish to the event. On lap 44 in the #13 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, contact with the #63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 of Rob Collard and Hugo Cook would bring their race to a quick end.

Up until that point, signs were good for Buchan and teammate Cameron Campbell, producing a 15th fastest Combined Qualifying result prior to the race start.

Round 2 heads to Oulton Park in June.

GT World Challenge America – Austin

Tom Sargent’s contributions to GMG Racing in GT World Challenge America were again on show, helping teammate Kyle Washington to some consistent performances.

The pair in #32 Porsche 911 GT3-R secured a top 10 effort in Qualifying, before Sargent topped the Pro-Am field in Qualifying 2 with a 2:03.624. The pair settled for 7th in the combined order before the main three-hour race got underway.

The Pro-Am class produced its own share of drama early in the race. Thirteen minutes into the contest, Todd Coleman spun in the No. 69 Archangel Motorsports McLaren after earlier contact from the No. 9 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. TR3 Racing was later handed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

A second Full Course Yellow followed shortly after due to debris on track, resetting the field once again, which was then followed at the halfway mark by Sargent recording the fastest lap of the race.

In the final 10 minutes, Heylen held third for RS1 while Sargent continued to hunt him down in pursuit of the final Pro-Am podium position. RS1 ultimately held firm, completing the class podium and Sargent and Washington crossed the finish line with a 4th in class and 6th outright.

Round 3 of GT World Challenge America heads to Sebring International Raceway from 8-10 May.

GB3 Championship – Silverstone

The GB3 Championship got underway over the weekend at Britain’s home of racing, Silverstone, with both Jack Taylor, fresh off his season in Formula Regional Oceania, and Dante Vinci making the move to Hillspeed from the Italian F4 Championship in 2025.

Both drivers began the process of finding their rhythm in the first qualifying session with 21st and 16th quickest laps respectively, and then 15th and 22nd in second qualifying.

Taylor was able to find improvement in the first of three races for the weekend, improving to 13th in the session, however, Vinci was unable to be classified after retiring on lap 9.

Race 2 yielded similar results for the pair as Taylor finished the final lap in 17th, while Vinci managed to complete the race in 19th.

Vinci found form in Race 3, putting together his best Round 1 performance to place 13th, while Taylor sat in 16th to conclude the weekend for Fortec Motorsports.

The pair’s next chance for Championship points will come in Round 2 at Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps from 28-31 May.

Formula Regional European Championship – Spielberg

Reigning GB3 Champion Alex Ninovic began the next step in his racing career at the Red Bull Ring for the commencement of the Formula Regional European Championship.

Back with the Rodin Motorsport camp for 2026, Ninovic wasted no time setting good pace, tallying the fastest lap of Free Practice prior to Qualifying.

Ninovic then pushed ahead securing early Championship points with a podium finish in Race 1. A post-race penalty prevented Ninovic from making it back-to-back podiums dropping him outside of the podium, but still logged a decent result.

A strong qualifying session to begin Sunday put Ninovic on the second row in third. This put him in a terrific position at the front of the 30-strong field.

A composed drive saw Ninovic improve on his starting position, and although unable to take away the race win from Reno Francot, a runner-up result in race three capped off a terrific weekend for the Australian.

30 points accumulated over the three race sessions has Ninovic in fifth on the Drivers Standings heading into Round 2 at Circuit Zandvoort from 22-24 May.

British Hillclimb Championship – Prescott

2022 Motorsport Australia Hill Climb Champion Dean Tighe began his 2026 campaign in the British Hillclimb Championship with the season’s first two rounds held on the same weekend.

In Round 1, Tighe qualified for the top 12 run off and finished 11th outright with a time of 39.23, becoming the first Australian to compete in a top 12 run off in the British Hillclimb Championship.

Tighe was unable to make the run off in Round 2, but still finished in the top 20. A positive result for Tighe as he finds his rhythm in a new championship overseas.

The next round of the championship takes place at Craigantlet in County Down, Northern Ireland on 2 May. Tighe and his team have stated fellow championship contenders have received them well and have enjoyed an Australian’s presence in among the field.

Porsche Carrera Cup Deutchland – Spielberg

Sam Shahin made it back to back rounds on the podium in Round 2 of the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland series at the Red Bull Ring.

The third place Pro-Am finish came in Race 2 for the weekend after a consistent weekend from Shahin. This follows the podium he secured a week ago in Imola.

Australian rookie Caleb Sumich also had an impact on the race order. Sumich began the weekend with the 13th and 19th fastest lap times across the two qualifying sessions. He then fell out of contention on lap 13 in Race 1 after being forced to retire the car. Sumich concluded his weekend finishing 28th in Race 2.

Round 3 of the series heads to Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps from 15-17 May.