Orange Racing by JMH fought to the bitter end in an intense final round of the 2026 GT Winter Series in Barcelona last weekend (14/15 March), achieving Vice Champion status after another pole position and podium finish in Spain.

The #67 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, backed by Sale Sharks, William Hare, CorpAcq, BOL Foods, Parkway England, Smith Bros. and Shoppertainment, made the trip to Barcelona with a slender Winter Series points lead in its pockets thanks to a massive second victory of the campaign a week prior at Motorland Aragon.

Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton therefore had the chance to achieve their goal of clinching the crown at the famous Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, heading the SR Motorsport by Schnitzelahm squad by four points with three races still to be run in Spain.

After productive tests in the build up to the weekend’s key action, the weather took a turn for the worse on Saturday morning ahead of Free Practice and Qualifying. The latter would provide an entertaining pair of sessions, with Orange initially doing enough to seal sixth in the GT3 class for the weekend’s opening race, before an almighty effort by Clutton in Q2 of 1m52.910s clinched the team’s second pole position of the Series for Race Two.

The weather remained tricky for the first 30-minute race later that afternoon, and it was a tale of two halves for Orange who would be the man behind the wheel for it. He was forced to start from the rear at the rolling start after the conditions caught him out on cold tyres during the formation lap, but he more than made up for it with a an expertly-driven performance to evade those losing their heads around him, and scythe through the field to an eventual fifth place finish for more important points ahead of the Sunday finale.

Under bright and sunny skies that morning, it was the turn of Clutton from pole position. After a strong rolling start, the McLaren man went into combat with Jay Mo Hartling’s #11 Mercedes at the first corner. Contact was made as the #67 machine was forced to take the escape route, for which Clutton would be controversially penalised for in the restarted race later on. An additional 10 seconds were added to the Orange Racing by JMH car’s time, meaning a win on the road became P2 despite a wonderful effort by Marcus to pull out an eight-second cushion and give the team hope throughout.

It was a case of all to do in the concluding 55-minute contest, with Simon starting the car before Marcus took over in the second half of the race. The team was mired down in ninth on the rolling start and suffered damage to its rear diffuser during a lengthy Full Course Yellow, but took an earlier stop to get Clutton into the car to chase down their rivals – including the all-important Mercedes of Hartling.

Clutton went into combat with Ariel Levi who robustly used his doors to defend the place from the British driver, but Marcus eventually found his way by at the first corner, then usurped Seweryn Mazur and found himself suddenly on the tail of Hartling for a late dash following a helpful safety car intervention. It served up an intense finish, as Clutton went side-by-side with his main rival several times, only to be squeezed wide twice and down to seventh briefly. With one lap remaining, a chance arrived when Hartling tagged Guy Albag into a spin, Clutton escaping in ‘Talladega Nights’ fashion to come home a close fourth.

It meant that although they missed out on the overall crown by a slender gap, a brilliant GTWS performance was rewarded with P2 in the final overall and GT3 standings for Orange Racing by JMH, who next turn their attentions to the British GT Championship in April.

Jason Hughes, Team Manager: “A great weekend, a really amazing effort by the whole team to get the results we did. We were so close at the end to winning the whole thing, but to get the wins that we did, the pole positions and the podiums that we did, we can be really happy and proud of ourselves to come away with second in the championship against some tough opponents. It’s been a great experience, and vital mileage for the boys ahead of the new British GT season.”

Simon Orange: “We came close to winning the championship which would have been an amazing result, but we can’t complain with the final outcome. We’ve come away with our heads high and with a lot of experience gained.”

Marcus Clutton: “A great, and slightly crazy weekend to finish! We gave it our all this weekend and put everything into those two races [on Sunday]. Disappointed that we weren’t given the win that we got on the road in race two, but to come back in the last race was a real fight and I wasn’t going to give up until I saw the chequered flag.”

Next up for the Orange Racing by JMH squad is the British GT Championship season-opener at Silverstone, which takes place across the weekend of 25/26 April.