Debut race win and podium as 2 Seas Motorsport kicks off British GT campaign

As the British GT campaign commenced at Donington Park, 2 Seas Motorsport converted a front-row lockout into a race win and further podium, to get the championship challenge underway in style. Faultless drives by Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss resulted in a lights-to-flag debut victory for the pair, while teammates Kevin Tse and Maximillian Gotz got their campaign off to a strong start, bringing home a P3 finish.

After a busy off-season for the team, hopes were high of a strong result heading into the team’s sixth season running in the British GT championship. However, an incident in testing during the week of the race had caused race preparation to be significantly altered. The team worked tirelessly to have the car fully repaired, turning out ready for the first session. These efforts in the garage, along with the results on track, saw the team proudly claim ‘Team of the Weekend’ from the championship organisers.

Former GT4 champion Charles set up a grandstand qualifying session with a provisional pole-setting effort, just ahead of teammate Kevin, during the opening session. The Pro session followed, with laptimes aggregated to set the grid for the opening 2-hour race, and Kiern delivered a further impressive lap to consolidate the benchmark time. Max fought to close the gap, ending the session with the two Mercedes-AMG GT3s securing the first British GT front row lockout for the team.

Despite being his GT3 debut, Charles stayed composed to maintain the lead from the start, while Kevin was forced to defend into turn 1. Despite dropping a position, the #18 Contempo Concept entry then quickly found its rhythm to remain part of the lead pack over the opening laps. Charles showed strong pace to build a gap at the front, setting the fastest lap of the opening stint, but a caution period would neutralise the race after 30 minutes. After the Safety Car restart, he then looked to rebuild some of the advantage prior to the driver change.

At mid-distance, Charles held a 5.7-second lead over the pack, with Kevin continuing to challenge as he held P3. Quick and efficient work by the 2 Seas crews saw Kiern and Max installed in the cars, and back out on track to resume the fight. The order remained the same, with Kiern now trading fastest laps with the chasing Lamborghini, while absorbing the pressure and negotiating slower GT4 traffic. The game of cat and mouse continued for the duration of the stint, with the gap closing to as little as 0.4s, while Max chased down the dueling pair. Despite the continued pressure, Kiern remained unphased, seemingly with an answer to everything that was thrown at him and, as Charles watched on from the garage, the #42 came home to claim an impressive first championship victory for the pair.

“An unbelievable weekend, and all a bit surreal! We weren’t expecting to be at this level quite so quickly, but Barclay and the whole team gave us a fantastic car, and we were able to deliver a really strong qualifying to set things up. The race wasn’t easy at times, and Kiern was under a lot of pressure in the closing stages, but he did a mega job to bring it home. There’s a long way to go from here, and we now have the success penalty at the next round, but we will keep focused on the processes to take each session and each lap as they come. Looking forward to seeing what we can do at Silverstone.”

Charles Dawson, 2 Seas Motorsport driver, #42 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

“Pole position and race win for our first race with 2 Seas – there’s no better way you could want your first weekend to go. A huge thank you to the team for all the efforts and hard work in the pre-season and over the weekend to help get us this result. It is the perfect start to our campaign, but now it’s a fresh slate heading to Silverstone, so we will see what we can do.”

Kiern Jewiss, 2 Seas Motorsport driver, #42 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

“Overall, a really solid weekend for us, and really pleased with the result. Big congratulations to Charles, Kiern and the whole team on the race win. It’s great to be back with the team, and it feels like we have picked straight up from where we were last season. It was a strong start to our 2025 campaign, and we need to keep up the good results, scoring points over each event and being consistent, so we can be in with a chance of fighting for the championship later in the season.”

Kevin Tse, 2 Seas Motorsport driver, #18 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

“We had good pace all weekend, and I am super happy to start the season on the podium. Kevin did an excellent job in qualifying, and it was great to start on the front row alongside the sister car. In the race, we were in the fight at the front, although lost a little bit of time to the leaders in traffic after the pitstops. It was great to start the season with a podium and congratulations to Charles and Kiern for the win. The signs are there that we have a great set up and package with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and collecting points every weekend is crucial to a championship challenge. The focus now is to be on the top step of that podium! I can’t wait to be back in Silverstone in two weeks.”

Maximillian Götz, 2 Seas Motorsport driver, #18 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

“An incredible way to kick off our 2025 British GT campaign, and I am so proud of the whole team. To score our first front row lockout was a big moment for us, and shows the hard work and commitment over the winter by every member of the team has paid off. Charles and Kiern then delivered drives far beyond their years and experience would suggest, and son pleased to see them and Kevin and Max sharing the podium to round out the weekend. We have a long way to go in the season, and we will get our heads down and build from here to keep the momentum building.”

Isa Al Khalifa, 2 Seas Motorsport team co-owner.

The results put the team in the lead of the championship, which now heads to the headline event of the year later this month. The 3-hour Silverstone 500 takes place 25-27 April.  

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