With two rounds to go in the 2024 British GT Championship, Barwell Motorsport looks poised to claim a seventh Teams’ Championship.
The Lamborghini squad sits 84.5 points clear of its nearest challenger 2 Seas Motorsport, with its crews of father-and-son duo Rob and Ricky Collard, and Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell currently 1-2 in the Drivers’ Championship – five points apart – having taken four race victories between them.
Mitchell has already been a part of two of the team’s domestic title-winning efforts, having raced with Barwell in either British GT or GT World Challenge Europe every season since 2018. And he’s eager for more success.
“We get on really well,” Mitchell told DSC. “The whole team does and it’s a really good atmosphere, so I enjoy racing with them.”
24-year-old Mitchell is now in his fourth year as a Lamborghini factory driver, having been promoted to factory status after a 2020 campaign which saw him win the British GT title and take a class victory at the 24 Hours of Spa, all in Barwell-entered Huracan GT3s.
Barwell, now in its ninth season racing with the Italian marque, has proven to be a natural home for him.
“It makes a lot of sense, me being a factory driver from the UK and Barwell being the main UK team that run Lamborghini’s in the high-level championships, so it’s always kind of ended up that we’ve been put together.
“I started off with Barwell as a junior driver in the Silver class, and now as one of their Pros.”
Since his promotion to factory status, Mitchell has often found himself working alongside Amateur drivers, such as his current British GT co-driver Martin and GT World Challenge Europe teammates Till Bechtolsheimer and Rob Collard, a role he is relishing.
“It’s a little bit different, we have to have a lot more coaching and stuff to do with the Amateur drivers which is a big part of the Pro-Am racing,” he explained. “The approach to each weekend changes slightly and maybe a little bit in the car setup as well.
“It’s always good. I love racing in British GT and these championships. The level of Am drivers just keeps getting better and better and they’re getting closer and closer to the Pro’s, which is really cool to see”.
This weekend’s British GT meeting at Donington Park is set to be a crucial one for the points battles, with Mitchell fully focused on snatching the points lead off Rob and Ricky Collard in the sister car. But Sunday’s race is not the ‘Donington Decider’ British GT fans have become accustomed to, instead, it’s the penultimate round of the 2024 season.
Then in 2025 the circuit will play host to the season opener. This means that for just the third time in the last 20 years, the championship will not get started with a double-header at Oulton Park, with the round at the Cheshire circuit moved to the end of May.
“I think it’s probably a good idea,” Mitchell commented. “Oulton Park is obviously a narrow circuit, it’s a circuit that everyone loves especially in Qualifying, so I think it’s great that it’s still on the calendar.
“But with it being the first round and everyone getting used to the cars and things for the first time it’s quite a tricky place to go for the first race so I can see why the decision [to move the round to later in the season] has been made.”
As he nears the end of his seventh season in the championship, it’s clear that British GT and Pro-Am GT3 racing has made a strong impression on Mitchell, who keeps coming back for more. The short review? “British GT is fantastic!”
But before shifting his focus to 2025, he’s concentrating on the task at hand. There’s silverware to be won on Sunday.
Featured image courtesy of Sandy Mitchell
