Former champ, Scot Sandy Mitchell, sealed second place in the 2022 British GT Championship after a dramatic, action-packed season finale at Donington Park.
The 22-year-old from Forfar, partnered by Adam Balon in the No 72 (#72) Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo prepared by Barwell Motorsport, looked on as his team-mate was forced to plough through the gravel at the opening lap of the two-hour race when a rival car spun in front of him at the Leicestershire circuit.
“It certainly wasn’t the way we’d planned to start the race,” Mitchell, whose Lamborghini had also started 10th on the grid after falling victim to the dry-wet weather qualifying 24-hours earlier.
“Adam did brilliantly to only have light contact with the car which spun right in front of him at the start, and then kept the car going as he steered through the gravel.
“He was really unlucky with what happened in front of him, but after that he stormed back through the field from ninth. He drove really well to fight back through the pack, completing a lot of really good overtaking moves and had moved up to fifth when he pitted to hand the car over to me.”
But when Mitchell rejoined the circuit — having also served the car’s additional 15-second success penalty, a result of having finished second last time out at Brands Hatch — he was hit by trouble, literally.
The chasing #77 McLaren clipped the rear-right of the Scot’s car. The impact dislodged part of the Lamborghini’s bodywork which immediately rubbed against the Pirelli tyre, generating a worrying amount of dense smoke.
“I did think, that’s it: I have a puncture, and I’ll have to pit again,” Mitchell, a Lamborghini factory driver and member of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, continued.
But despite his pace dropping slightly immediately following the impact, which saw the #77 car ease itself ahead into third, thankfully whatever was lodged against the tyre eventually fell off and Mitchell was able to continue.
“We were really lucky to be able to continue, but after that we didn’t quite have the killer pace the Lamborghini usually has,” he explained. “The impact of the aerodynamic damage gradually increased throughout the race and took the top edge off the car’s pace.”
But Mitchell, who finally brought the car home fifth on-track and fourth in terms of championship points — due to a non-point scoring car finishing in fourth place — acknowledged the team had achieved its realistic goal for the weekend.
“We came into the championship finale lying second in the title race, but knowing we needed not only to win the race, but for the leading car to have a lot of misfortune, which is not what any driver wishes on their competition,” Mitchell, personally backed by Tunnocks, Thorntons Solicitors, Lamborghini Edinburgh, Upper Dysart Larder and Alan Davie Transport stated.
“At the end of the day, the championship lead car did exactly what it needed to do to seal the title, finishing second in the race. Even if we’d won the race we wouldn’t have been able to overtake the new champion, fellow Scot Ian Loggie. I’d like to congratulate him for a very strong season.
“It’s been an epic battle between the cars in the top five. Always really close and it’s been great to be fighting with these guys right through the year.
“To come second after what was a difficult start to the year is a really good result for us. It’s something Adam and I, and the whole Barwell team can be proud of.”