• Long-time leaders Toyota now just two points clear
• Clean sweeps at Spa and Misano move BMW back into contention
• GT4 Manufacturer Ranking standings
Toyota leads BMW by just two points at the halfway stage in the 2026 GT4 Manufacturer Ranking season following a huge swing towards the German marque.
Having held a sizeable advantage as recently as three weeks ago, Toyota has experienced the full force of BMW's fightback. Aided by a pair of weekend sweeps, the two-time defending champion rapidly transformed a 122-point deficit into an 11-point advantage.
Toyota has subsequently edged back in front, but only by the narrowest of margins. This sets up a fierce battle between the Supra and the M4 during the second half of the campaign, with little to choose between the title-chasing manufacturers.
The recent run of races began on 13/14 June with action from Monochrome GT4 Australia and Pirelli GT4 America. The former ran its third event of the season at Queensland Raceway, where the opening contest was staged under the lights on Saturday evening. The GWR crew of Daniel Frougas and Chris White bagged a first win of the season in their Toyota, beating Purdie's Audi R8 and the RENNEN Motorsport Porsche Cayman.
The second outing saw Method Motorsport win its fourth Monochrome GT4 Australia event of 2026. Tom Hayman and Jett Murray have been responsible for two of those victories and lead the standings at the mid-point of the season. They beat a Ford Mustang from the RM squad and the sister Method McLaren to claim top spot.
McLaren was also on song at Road Atlanta, which staged the fourth round of the Pirelli GT4 America campaign. Sharing Blackdog's Artura with Michael Cooper, Tony Gaples set the all-time record for race starts in SRO America competition on Saturday. He marked the occasion in the best possible fashion, taking the overall win ahead of BMWs from Auto Technic and Random Vandals.
In Race 2 it was the RS1 Porsche that emerged on top thanks to Spencer Pumpelly and Luca Mars, who also banked a fifth consecutive Silver class win to stretch their championship advantage. The Blackdog McLaren wrapped up a stellar weekend in P2, while Random Vandals again completed the podium.
The upshot of the doubleheader was that BMW took 18 points out of Toyota's lead, though at this stage the Japanese brand still led by 86. Next up, on 20/21 June, the first of back-to-back GT4 weekends at Spa-Francorchamps. And, in a new innovation, British GT and Championnat de France FFSA GT would join forces for a single race with separate results.
The British GT podium finished nose-to-tail after a mid-race full-course yellow and safety car coincided with the pit window, nullifying any compensation time and penalties. This allowed the Grange Racing with FSR Aston Martin to score a second successive win after Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner triumphed last time out at Oulton Park, ahead of the Optimum McLaren and the Toro Verde Ginetta.
Toyota came out on top in the FFSA GT contest. With an ineligible Alpine taking the win, a runner-up finish for Akkodis ASP's Supra gave the Japanese brand the top GT4 Manufacturer Ranking score. Spanish outfit NM was next with its Mercedes-AMG, followed by another ASP-run Toyota. With the first of Spa’s consecutive events complete, the gap was back up to 122 points.
But the momentum began to swing significantly towards BMW when the GT4 European Series staged its annual event in the Ardennes in support of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. The Borusan Otomotiv pairing of Thomas Rackl and Gabriele Piana – who has a claim to being the top GT4 driver in the world at the moment – gave the Turkish squad a clean sweep of wins with its M4. Elite Motorsport scored well for McLaren by twice taking runner-up and adding a P3, while TeamFloral's Mustang completed the podium finishers.
Toyota's lead was cut to 78 points ahead of another doubleheader weekend, this one comprising ADAC GT4 Germany and the new GT4 Italian Series on 4/5 July. The former staged its marquee round by joining the DTM support line-up at the Norisring. Dubbed the "Franconian Monaco", the 2.2-kilometre street circuit proved to be an extremely happy hunting ground for W&S Motorsport and its pair of Porsches.
In Race 1, Lachlan Robinson and Denny Berndt took the chequered flag ahead of Maximilian Schreyer and Alon Gabbay in the sister Cayman. The positions were reversed in Race 2, giving W&S and Porsche maximum points for the weekend. Toyota was best of the rest thanks to Belgium squad CRT, which scored a double P3 with its Supra.
But the picture changed dramatically when the new Italian series had completed its event at Vallelunga. While the previous round at Misano produced a double win for Toyota, this time it was BMW that swept the board thanks to the Casals-run M4 of Giacomo Maman and Gustavo Sandrucci. The German brand’s points haul was bolstered by finishing P3 in both races courtesy of Promodrive and Casals respectively, while Porsche (MEF) and Mercedes-AMG (CZ Bassano) earned the runner-up spots.
With two clean sweeps from three events, BMW had not only wiped out Toyota's sizeable lead, but moved 11 points clear at the top of the table. Having led since the opening event in March, Toyota had finally been toppled – albeit not for very long.
Two weeks later, on 17/18 July, the action remained in Italy with the GT4 European Series racing at Misano. The seaside venue is often the scene of compelling GT4 action, and this year was no exception. McLaren won the opener courtesy of Elite Motorsport duo Charlie Hart and McKenzy Cresswell, who beat an Audi from Speedcar and a Toyota from Speedy to the win.
Having finished second in the opener, Paul Petit and Gregory Guilvert took a controlled victory in Race 2, scoring their first win of the campaign while giving Audi its first European triumph of 2026. The sister R8 of defending champions Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche came home in P2 with TeamFloral's Ford in third. In terms of points, Audi was the clear winner at Misano.
As for the title contenders, Toyota's score was enough to edge the Japanese brand back in front of BMW, though with a margin of just two points the leaders are essentially on equal footing. This convergence could hardly have come at a more appropriate time, with Race 2 at Misano marking the 42nd of 85 slated for the season.
Porsche occupies a lonely third position, more than 100 adrift of the lead and 250 ahead of fourth-placed Mercedes-AMG. Thereafter the table comprises McLaren, Aston Martin, Audi, Ford and Ginetta. All nine contenders have registered at least one win thus far, led by Toyota's tally of 11 and BMW with seven.
There's no respite in the coming weeks. Three series will be in action on 25/26 July with ADAC GT4 at Oschersleben, Monochrome GT4 Australia at Darwin, and GT4 Italy at Mugello. This is followed on 1/2 August by the penultimate FFSA GT round at Magny-Cours, after which there is a one-week pause. Whether it will be Toyota or BMW out front at this juncture is anyone’s guess.
