Today saw the announcement that Will Phillips will be joining the MacMillan Racing squad in its Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT4 for next seasons British GT Championship.

Having competed in the series last year in the Team Hard Ginetta GT4 alongside Jordan Stilp, the duo went on to claim third in the GT4 Silver Driver Championship just ahead of last years MacMillan GT4 driver line up of Jack Mitchell and Matty Graham. With Jack Mitchell already confirmed in the team's new Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 for 2017,  after having tested it at Donington last month Phillips is the first to claim a seat in the teams GT4.


“I’m really excited to be joining Macmillan Racing,” said Will. “I’ve enjoyed testing the Aston Martin and I immediately felt at home with the team. I’m convinced that we’re going to be a very good fit.”

“With GT4 grids at near-capacity,” he reckons, “the 2017 British GT Championship is going to be mega! It’s guaranteed to be really competitive and with new names and faces arriving, it’s sure to be an interesting year".

We continue to wait for confirmation of drivers for the remaining two seats as the team are due to commence their pre season testing programme early in the new year.

Macmillan Racing's Matthew Graham declared himself happy with his first year in the championship, after completing the season with a strong second place at Donington Park.

The 20 year old from Stamfordham, Northumberland, enjoyed another strong weekend alongside team mate Jack Mitchell and the team, with the Aston Martin Vantage placed at the sharp end of the GT4 field throughout the weekend.

And while braking issues in the second hour of the race stifled hopes of taking a maiden victory, it was a situation about which Graham remained sanguine.

A fantastic second-placed GT4 podium finish in the final race, capped a wonderful debut season in British GT for Generation AMR Macmillan Racing.

It was a race that almost produced that elusive first win and the seeds for success were sewn right from the start. “I made another great start,” beamed Jack Mitchell, “and managed to get up into second place, with only the McLaren in front of me. “I had a couple of looks at the McLaren but I had a number of Ginettas behind me, all trying to have a go, so I had to keep my eyes on my mirrors, as I really wanted to bring the car in, to hand over to Matty, still in second place.”

Despite a number of rivals continually attacking him from behind, Jack held onto second place, bringing the no 42 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 into the pits in a strong second place, around 8 seconds off the leader.

Generation AMR Macmillan Racing pitstops are normally well-oiled perfection but this time, Matty Graham was hammering on the driver’s window to gain attention. “As the boys were changing the tyres,” said Matty, “I realized that my left-hand shoulder strap wasn’t fastened. 

One of the world’s greatest race tracks yielded a fantastic podium finish for Generation AMR Macmillan Racing on Saturday afternoon, rounding out the team’s first Spa adventure.

Jack Mitchell started his first-ever race at the awesome Spa-Francorchamps from mid-grid – 31st in the vast 57-car field – as Round 6 of the British GT Championship got underway.

As at Silverstone, the grid included a large number of entries from the GT4 European Series, adding to the challenge for the Generation AMR Macmillan Racing no. 42 Aston Martin Vantage V8 GT4.

Jack managed to avoid the inevitable first-lap carnage on the run from La Source down to Eau Rouge, then set about producing clean, fast laps, bringing the car in for its mandatory pit-stop in a strong 5th position among the British GT4 runners.

“The race went really well for me,” said Jack, “and I was finding time with every lap. The team gave me a great car, which allowed me to attack from start to finish.

“Having started 15th, [in the combined GT4 field] I knew I had to make a lot of moves - which isn’t normally my strong point – but I was able to pick them off one by one, to hand over the car in a good position.”

Strong pit work by the Generation AMR crew turned the car around quickly, picking up a couple of positions and sending Matty Graham out, to launch into the attack.

The sixth race of the season offers the stiffest challenge yet for British GT Championship newcomers Generation AMR Macmillan Racing – the mighty Spa-Francorchamps circuit, in Belgium.

The legendary home of the Belgian Grand Prix will be totally new territory for the team and for drivers Matty Graham and Jack Mitchell but it’s the one race that everyone in the squad - indeed, everyone in the entire paddock - is looking forward to with great excitement.

“It’s been four long weeks since Silverstone,” says Matty Graham, “and I can’t wait to be back out this weekend, especially going to Spa which is a really special track. I think if you ask every driver on the grid they will all say the same, that this is a big one.

“It has so much history to it and is a real driver’s track and I am looking forward to seeing what we can do.”

“It’s one of the great names in motorsport, along with Monaco, Indianapolis and Le Mans” agrees Jack Mitchell, “it’s right up there with the very best.

“Everyone has images in their head of races they’ve seen there, epic overtaking, wheel-to-wheel action… and we’re just hoping to feel some of that magic ourselves!”



As at Silverstone, the British GT field will be joined by the GT4 European Series, ensuring a massive grid of cars. This time, the race will be a more standard two-hour format, although it is being held on Saturday, rather than Sunday, adding a different twist to the weekend timetable.

Spa is the longest track on the calendar, with plenty of elevation changes and lots of high-speed sections, so it should particularly suit the team’s no. 42 Aston Martin Vantage V8 GT4.

“The Aston should go well at Spa,” confirms Matty. “It’s got everything you need and it suits the longer straights and fast flowing corners, so I’ve quite a lot of confidence coming into the weekend and seeing if we can get a really strong result.”

“When you think of legendary corners like Eau Rouge, Les Combes, Pouhon and Blanchimont, you get the shivers,” smiles Jack. “Everyone knows the weather can be pretty tricky but after Silverstone, I think we can cope with anything Mother Nature throws at us over the weekend…”

“With a fresh engine in the no. 42 car, and engineer Pete Weston guiding the boys with set-up, I think we should be in a position to show our strength again,” reckons Team Principal David Macmillan. “The track may be new to us all but that goes with the territory, when you’re a brand-new team - every track has been new to us this season!

“We’ve been getting steadily more competitive and I firmly believe that if we have a trouble-free weekend, we can be on the podium again. And at Spa - for a new outfit like ours - that will be as good as a win anywhere else!”


Source material - MacMillan

Macmillan Racing’s Matty Graham insists his team should feel confident ahead of this weekend’s British GT meeting at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, on a circuit he expects to play to the strengths of his Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

Having shown excellent pace in recent races, Graham also believes Saturday’s two hour endurance race around the classic track can yield a strong result for the team and reward their continued efforts and improvements.

Graham said: “It’s been four long weeks since Silverstone and I can’t wait to be back out this weekend, especially going to Spa which is a really special track. I think if you ask every driver on the grid they will all say the same, that it is a big one.

“It has so much history to it and is a real driver’s track and I am looking forward to seeing what we can do. The Aston should go well at Spa, it’s got everything you need for it and it suits the longer straights and fast flowing corners so I’ve quite a lot of confidence coming into the weekend and seeing if we can get a really strong result. As a team, we have been getting stronger and stronger as the season has gone on but we’ve yet to really have a clean weekend without either mechanical issues or mistakes like mine at Silverstone and make the most of the work we’ve all been putting in"

Matty secured his first points in British GT on Sunday afternoon, after he and team mate Jack Mitchell battled to a sixth place finish at Rockingham Motor Speedway.

In a race that Graham described as the hardest physical thing he had ever done, the pairing overcame a power steering problem in their Aston Martin Vantage to take a valuable twelve points from the two hour race.

And while Matty lamented not being able to finish higher up the order, just completing the full race distance was an achievement for the whole team, after Generation AMR Macmillan Racing won their own race against time to be on the grid at all.

In a remarkable effort, the team and Aston Martin Racing pulled out all the stops to get the number 42 back into race shape, after it sustained significant damage in the huge crash that put it out of the race at Brands Hatch two weeks earlier.

After that incident robbed Mitchell of the chance to run in the car, it was he who took charge of the first stint on Sunday afternoon, and made an immediate move up the order from the rolling start.

Getting a good run past the green lights, Mitchell dove to the bottom of the banked turn one to get past the Ginetta G55 of William Phillips and quickly found himself part of the lead group.

Running fifth and pressuring eventual winners Jack Bartholomew and Jordan Albert, the steering problem arose with only 20 minutes ran, changing the complexion of the team’s race and costing Mitchell five places.

Pushing on as well as he could, Mitchell came into the pits to hand over to Matty on 55 minutes, giving him the car for what would be a gruelling 65 minute stint.

Following an exceptionally slick pit stop, Graham set about getting accustomed to the car he was driving and finding its potential and while it was not at its peak performance levels, Matty was able to coax lap times within half a second of the leading GT4 cars out of it.

It was an important turn of pace to extract too, as Matty and Ginetta driver Robert Barrable engaged in a race long battle for what would be seventh on track, after mechanical problems affected the sister Generation AMR car.

It was a gap that was never comfortable, growing only as much as two and a half seconds and at times being less than two tenths, but it was one that Matty was managing.

Four laps from home however, with fatigue starting to set in and with the Aston developing a long break peddle, Barrable was able to take the position with a well-judged and disappear up the road.

It saw Matty cross the line eighth, with post-race penalties to crews ahead for overtaking under yellow flags improving that position by two places.

Matty and the rest of the British GT championship have a four week gap until they are next in action, with rounds three and four taking place around Oulton Park in Cheshire on May 28 and 30.

Matthew Graham is full of confidence heading into this weekend’s British GT race meeting at Rockingham Motor Speedway, having shown impressive pace two weeks ago at the season opening round at Brands Hatch.

Graham and his Macmillan Racing team mate Jack Mitchell, were consistently placed in the top five of the GT4 class across the weekend in their Aston Martin, with the 19 year old from Stamfordham battling over second place when he was taken out in a huge accident a third of the way through the race.

Having run so strongly in what was the first competitive outing for both the team and the drivers, Graham is confident that this weekend’s race can deliver a good haul of championship points.

“Heading into round two at Rockingham, I’m feeling confident in myself and in the team. We have a fast car that is capable of a good result, as we showed in the race at Brands Hatch before the incident and I was really happy with how the pace was in the race” said Graham

After many months of background activity the latest member of the Team AMR family has been finally confirmed today, together with their GT4 entry into the British GT Championship

Working together with British GT returnees Generation AMR, MacMillan Racing will themselves be entering a 2016 V8 Vantage GT4 for their own young steeds Jack Mitchell and Matty Graham.

We will be off course be meeting these guys at the championships Media Day tomorrow at Snetterton but in the meantime additional information about these guys can be found HERE.

Photo credit - British GT