Hugo Cook and Rob Collard hang on in nervy finish to take race one win in Cheshire
Sant’Agata Bolognese/Oulton Park, 25 May 2026 – Lamborghini claimed its first victory of the 2026 British GT Championship season, as Barwell Motorsport’s Hugo Cook and Rob Collard came out on top in a hard-fought opening race at Oulton Park.
The success is Lamborghini’s 32nd in British GT and 11th at the Cheshire circuit, and one that launches the crew of the #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 right into title contention after failing to finish the season opener at Silverstone last month.
With fifth in the second race, Cook and Collard moved up to sixth in the drivers’ standings with 35 points, 5.5 points behind the sister #78 crew of Jarrod Waberski and Alex Martin, who are fourth in the championship thanks to a pair of top six finishes.
With history on its side, the weekend began strongly for the trio of Barwell Huracán GT3 EVO2s, with Lamborghini GT3 Junior Shootout winner Cook and two-time British GT champion Collard setting the second-quickest time in free practice before topping the pre-qualifying session. The #63 then secured a front-row starting position for race one with the second-best time in qualifying for Collard, just five-hundredths of a second off pole.
The Silver-Am #78 Huracán of Martin and Waberski was third in free practice and lined up fifth for race one, while the #55 Pro-Am entry of Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron was 11th on the grid.
Off the rolling start, Collard got a superb getaway on the outside of the grid and swept into the lead by the time the field negotiated Old Hall for the first time, as Martin climbed to fourth. Collard extended his margin at the head of the field to over five seconds before handing over to Cook at the driver-change pit-stop.
The #63’s advantage was then wiped out as a full course yellow period turned into a safety car following a multi-car incident. Cook had to keep the #7 Aston Martin – which trailed Collard in the opening stint – at bay for the remaining 12 minutes. The latter closed to within a few car lengths entering the final stages but Cook drove well to remain in the lead. A brief scare with a lapped GT4 car on the final appeared to have cost Cook dearly, but the British driver positioned his car superbly on the apex of the final two corners to hang on for the victory.
Waberski and Martin drove a clean race in the #78 and, having run fourth early on, ended up fifth at the finish and second in the Silver-Am class. The #55 of Cameron and Griffin made sure all three Huracáns finished in the top 10 with a solid ninth place result.
Lamborghini GT3 Junior and race one winner, Hugo Cook: “To be honest, I was quite comfortable in the first half of my stint, but then the brakes were starting to go a bit, so it was quite difficult to drive the car near the end. I thought it was over with the GT4 at the end, but I was able to back up the [GT3] Aston Martin so it worked out well.”
Cook and Collard started race two – delayed by over an hour due to technical issues at the circuit – from third on the grid. Cook maintained position at the start but, with a success penalty (compensation time) of 10-seconds to be served at the mandatory pit-stop courtesy of their race one win, the #63 was limited to what it could achieve. Nevertheless, fifth place for the crew means they enter the first race of the next round at Spa-Francorchamps – as part of SRO Speedweek – without any compensation time.
The #78 of Waberski and Martin followed the #63 home in sixth place, taking the victory in the Silver-Am class to go one better than they managed in race one, while Cameron and Griffin finished 10th.
