leave the team for financial reasons. 2004–2006 Following his departure from the WSR team, 2004 saw Hughes without a regular drive. He entered the British GT Championship for the Oulton Park round, partnering Jonathan Cocker at Gruppe M Racing in an NGT-class Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, finishing sixth in race one, and taking the victory in the second race. He entered the Spa 24 Hours (part of the FIA GT Championship) with the team, partnering Cocker, Tim Sugden and Tim Mullen, but the team failed to finish, with the car's gearbox failing after 301 laps. Following this event, he entered two rounds of the Le Mans Series. The first event was the 1000 km of Silverstone, where Hughes partnered Jonny Kane in a Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport-entered TVR Tuscan T400R GT, finishing sixth in class; whilst the second race saw Hughes and Kane partner Lawrence Tomlinson in a RSR Racing-entered T400R at the 1000 km of Spa. This would prove to be a less successful race, with Hughes crashing out after just 19 laps. In 2005, Hughes started his season at the 12 Hours of Sebring, driving the TVR with Kane and Tomlinson, but now under the Team LNT banner, and competing under the new GT2 regulations. It would not prove a successful event; engine failure forced the team to retire both Hughes' car, and their other TVR, driven by Richard Dean, Patrick Pearce and Marc Hynes. He would remain with Team LNT for the remainder of the season. Following the Sebring race, Hughes, now partnered by Pearce, entered the Donington Park round of the 2005 British GT season, finishing second, a race which was followed by a class victory in the 1000 km of Spa, where Hughes was partnered by Kane. Hughes and Pearce then competed in the FIA GT Magny-Cours Supercar 500, finishing 18th overall, and seventh in class – fifth of the drivers who scored points for the British GT Championship. The duo remained together for the Knockhill and Thruxton rounds, with a second place in the first race held at Thruxton being the strongest result out of the four races. Hughes then returned to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time in three years, this time driving for the RML Group team, driving their MG-Lola EX264 alongside Tommy Erdos and Mike Newton. The race proved far more successful than his two previous events, and the