Scots endurance racer Sandy Mitchell, aided by team-mates Rob Collard and Alex MacDowall, delivered a strong performance in the Paul Ricard 1000Km, the latest round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Championship. But the trio were ultimately denied a podium place at the end of the six-hour race.
Mitchell, the 22-year-old from Forfar — driving the #77 Lamborghini Huracan Evo GT3, prepared by Barwell Motorsport — and his team-mates led the ultra-competitive Gold Cup class after two hours when MacDowall pitted to hand the car to the Scot for the third stint.
But as Mitchell, a Lamborghini factory driver and member of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, was about to rejoin the track to start his first stint in the race, the Scot’s progress was halted by the red light at the pitlane exit.
The mandatory pitstop coincided with race officials switching from a full course yellow to a safety car period, halting Mitchell from rejoining the circuit. The delay cost him 30 seconds and dropped him to the back of the field as the safety car led the pack through the start-finish line.
Mitchell, the 2020 Briish GT champion, then immediately set about slicing through the field as darkness fell in the day-night race. By the end of his stint, and midway through the race, the Scot, had powered the #77 Lamborghini back to second in class.
MacDowall then held the position throughout his second stint, despite a tyre problem, before handing back to Mitchell. The Scot, who normally would have taken the final stint, took the penultimate leg while team-mate Collard recovered from an earlier illness which occurred during the Englishman’s opening stint.
Collard took over the car with 45-minutes remaining holding fourth place in the Gold Cup. The former BTCC race winner negotiated the chaos of a late safety car to bring the car home sixth in class.
At the end of the race, just 20.341secs covered the second-placed car in the Gold Cup and Mitchell’s #77 Lamborghini, despite dropping a lap behind the leaders at Mitchell’s first pitstop. Overall, the trio finished 22nd in the 54-car field.
Mitchell, whose next race in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Championship is the Spa 24-Hours in July, acknowledged he and his Barwell team took a number of real positives from the Paul Ricard battle.
“Overall we had a good race,” Mitchell, personally backed by Tunnocks and Upper Dysart Larder, continued. “I was happy with both my stints and we made a lot or progress through the field. It was a good fun race with a lot of overtaking, and we bagged a good haul of championship points.
“Our consistent race pace was really good and we certainly felt stronger in the race than we did in quali. We also showed some really good teamwork which will certainly help our preparations and chances when we tackle the Spa 24H.”
Before the 24-hour race at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, Mitchell returns to action in the next round of the British GT Championship at Snetterton later this month.