Mark Smith & Martin Plowman Return for a third British GT campaign with Paddock Motorsport for 2025

Paddock Motorsport will expand its GT3 operation this season, with Mark Smith and Martin Plowman set to contest twin championships aboard the team’s McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. At the heart of the programme is a full campaign in the British GT Championship, with the pair set to significantly increase both their testing and race mileage with a secondary entry into the GT Cup Championship. Paddock’s distinctive black and pink McLaren GT3 made significant progress toward the front of the British GT field last year, and for this season a restructuring of the team’s technical crew looks set to continue that upward trajectory. The operation of the McLaren will be now overseen by Toby Phillips, who brings with him a long history of success operating GT3 cars at a world-class level. Phillips has previously worked on factory programmes with both Lamborghini and Bentley and has achieved multiple successes in championships such as the GT World Challenge Europe and European Le Mans Series. Paddock has also relocated to a new technical facility, marking yet another sizeable investment in the team’s infrastructure. With a new-look technical crew, Paddock will aim to make the most of every lap across the course of this year, with Smith also committing to a GT Cup programme. GT Cup’s calendar shares the majority of the same circuits as British GT. GT Cup events often take place during the build-up to British GT ones, offering the team the chance to both compete for GT Cup honours, but also use those weekends to gain mileage, experience and setup data ahead of British championship rounds. California driver Smith has previously commuted across from the States ahead of each British GT event, limiting testing opportunities so the crew was often learning as it raced. This year that momentum will shift, with Smith spending increased time in the UK in order to focus further on his race preparation during what will be his third full British GT campaign. Pro driver and Paddock Motorsport founder Plowman first made his British GT debut back in 2017, winning the GT4 Pro-Am Championship title two years later. After founding Paddock in 2021, he has successfully grown the team into a major presence in the pitlane, last year fielding three cars in British GT. Plowman has worked alongside Smith since his debut in the series during the 2022 season finale, and across the last two campaigns the pair have shown great potential, regularly producing race pace capable of fighting within the top five. Despite a difficult start to last season, Smith and Plowman ended last year with two top-five finishes in the GT3 Pro-Am class across the events at Donington Park and Brands Hatch, signalling how far they had come across the year. Now, with significantly increased mileage and the backing of a refreshed technical crew, hopes are high the team can push on toward the podium places in 2025. Mark Smith says: “I’m really excited for this season, to be back with Paddock Motorsport and Martin, and for a number of reasons. With an average finishing position of 11th in 2023, and 12th in 2024, you couldn’t be blamed for wondering why I’d want to come back for more. But the short answer is I don’t believe those results. Our race pace last year was consistently inside the top five, yet for a litany of reasons – many down to sheer bad luck ­– we struggled to finish in those places. “My biggest lesson during the last two years is that your race pace alone isn’t enough, and that over time you make your own luck. For example, it might look like bad luck that at the beginning of races last year I consistently ended up with incidents or damage from having to avoid cars wrecking in front of me, but actually that’s just a fact of starting mid-pack. I need to qualify better to eliminate that bad luck. “There's only one way I know how to improve and that's with dedication and effort. This year I call my ‘go big or go home’ year. We're adding testing, bringing on additional engineering talent, as well as adding the GT Cup to our schedule. This additional seat time, with a focused effort on improving my qualifying performance, I believe will be crucial for improving our results. Paddock has also made significant investment in the team, dramatically improving its facilities and leaving no stone unturned with respect to car performance. I'm confident that 2025 will be a breakout year for us.” Martin Plowman says: “This season will be a big one for us, and we simply have to deliver on the promise we showed last season. Playing catch-up in a championship as tight as British GT is never easy as if you start the season on the back foot it can take multiple races to recover the lost ground. We found ourselves in that position too often, yet towards the end of the year we were right in the mix, and the points table proves that as Mark and I took our best two results from the last two races. We need to start this season as we ended the last, then I have no doubt we can be right in the mix. “Mark has developed massively as a driver over his time with us. His race pace has never been in doubt and last year he produced some superb stints – running second overall in the Silverstone 500 being a great example. Adding extra testing and a GT Cup entry will be a huge boost as nothing beats seat time. Mark already has great natural feel and ability, but if we can improve on his single-lap pace whilst also unlocking some extra potential in the car then we will truly be in a great place to fight. “The aim this season is undoubtedly the podium. We know it will be tough as British GT is full of great teams and drivers, but I fully believe we have the pieces in place to take a big step forward this year, and I cannot wait to get out on track and see what we can achieve this season.” The 2025 British GT Championship gets underway with the official Media Day tests at Silverstone on March 21, before the campaign begins with a two-hour race at Donington Park on April 5/6. Paddock’s first GT Cup appearance comes a few ahead of that – also at Donington on March 29/30 – providing an ideal warm-up for the first headline event.