- Racing underway in seven series; four more meetings this weekend
- BMW leads Porsche and Toyota in battle for global crown
- Global standings after 15 races
Defending winner BMW leads Porsche at the head of the GT4 Manufacturer Ranking table following a frenetic run of eight events across five consecutive weekends.
Racing is now underway in seven of the nine points-paying series, with action in China, the United States, Great Britain, Australia and France launching the new campaign. It began with the latest addition to the schedule, the SRO GT Cup, which kicked off in impressive style as a support event to the Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix towards the end of March.
Chen Weian wrote his name in history at the Shanghai International Circuit by clinching the inaugural win, and in doing so earned Audi the opening spoils of 2025. In Race 2, the Harmony Winhere driver was beaten by Han Lichao (Toyota Gazoo Racing China), who prevailed in his Supra and handed the Japanese brand an early advantage over Audi and Porsche.
One week later, Pirelli GT4 America and GT America powered by AWS were in action at Sonoma Raceway in California. In the former, BMW was on peak points-scoring form as Colin Garett and Zac Anderson triumphed for Auto Technic Racing, beating the Blackdog Racing McLaren. In Race 2, Random Vandals completed a clean sweep for BMW after Kevin Boehm made a late pass on the RAFA Racing Team Toyota.
In the single-driver GT America series, Anthony McIntosh began the campaign with a win aboard his JTR Toyota, adding to the Supra's success in China. The second contest saw Aston Martin open its account for 2025 as Max Hewitt triumphed in his Van der Steur Racing-run Vantage. But while the biggest points tally of the Sonoma weekend went to BMW, it was Porsche that moved into a narrow GT4 Manufacturer Ranking lead ahead of Toyota
The weekend of 5/6 April saw two events on opposite sides of the globe, both of which produced big points hauls for McLaren. The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit played host to the opening Monochrome GT4 Australia event, which saw Tom Hayman and Max Geoghegan capture the first win of 2025 in their Method Motorsport Artura.
The Jam Motorsport Audi was runner-up in the opener, sandwiched between the McLaren and Miedecke’s Ford, but had its revenge in Race 2 as Blake Purdie and Daniel Price
scored the Ingolstadt marque’s maiden series victory. The Miedecke Mustang led early on but was demoted to second and ultimately fell to third when the Method McLaren pulled a move. The same three crews therefore occupied the podium in both races, a significant achievement in a competitive 29-car field.
On the other side of the world, and for only the second time since 2017, British GT’s season did not launch at Oulton Park. Instead, a two-hour race took place at Donington Park where Pro-Am duo Marc Warren and Jack Brown produced a faultless drive to claim victory in their Optimum Motorsport McLaren. They beat the Century Motorsport BMW and a pair of Team Parker Mercedes-AMGs.=
With three wins from four and a hatful of points, McLaren was the clear winner of the weekend. But a solid score in Australia combined with a big haul in Britain was enough to move BMW back to the top of the standings, 14 points clear of Porsche.
GT America became the first series to stage its second event of the season when it made the annual trip to California to run in support of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. This marked the 50th anniversary of America's premier street racing event and drew a record three-day attendance of 200,000 spectators, who were treated to a packed on-track schedule which included GT America.
Judson Holt took a brace of wins in his Fast Track Racing BMW, ensuring a significant score for the brand. With fellow M4 runner (and Random Vandals boss) Paul Sparta finishing second and third respectively, the event could hardly have been better. Porsche’s cause was aided by Ricco Shlaimoun finishing third and second in his ACI-run Cayman, but this was unequivocally a BMW weekend.
Meanwhile, in France, the GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club launched its new season at Circuit Paul Ricard. The series boasts the biggest GT4 grid in the world, with 42 cars competing at the French venue and all eight Manufacturer Ranking brands represented.
Erik Evans and Marco Signoretti triumphed in the opening race, and in doing so sealed the first GT4 Europe victory for the new Mustang. The Ford Performance Junior Team entry surged from sixth on the grid to prevail over the Matmut Évolution Toyota and the L’Espace Bienvenue BMW.
Race 2 was a genuine thriller. Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche claimed the win aboard their Team Speedcar Audi, the latter holding off Hadrien David’s Matmut Évolution Toyota by just 0.076s in a drag race to the line.
The FFSA GT French Championship completed the opening phase of competition over the Easter weekend. Amid heavy rain showers at the Nogaro circuit, Porsche emerged as the biggest scorer with a narrow margin over Aston Martin. It was a timely set of results for the Weissach marque, with BMW unrepresented on the French grid.
Nevertheless, the Bavarian brand has control at the top of the standings, leading the way on 320 points compared with 274 for Porsche. Toyota heads the battle for third on 189 points, closely followed by Aston Martin (169), Mercedes-AMG (153), Audi (149) and McLaren (143). Ford completes the standings with 73 points.
There is still a huge amount of distance to cover, with just 15 of the season’s 100 races complete. The upcoming weekend (26/27 April) will be especially busy, with ADAC GT4 Germany, British GT, GT America and Pirelli GT4 America all in action.
This will be followed by six more weekends on which at least one GT4 Manufacturer Ranking Series is competing; indeed, the first pause of the campaign does not come until 14/15 June. ADAC GT4 will become the eighth series to launch when it gets underway this weekend, while the Japan Cup will complete the set when it races at SUGO on 7/8 June.
