Angus ace Sandy Mitchell relinquished his crown but battled hard to seal a top three place in this season’s British GT Championship overall standings.
The 21-year-old Lamborghini star from Forfar delivered a fighting fifth place in the Donington Park finale, despite serving a 15-second success penalty.
It was enough to lift Mitchell and teammate Adam Balon to third in the final table in their Barwell Motorsport-prepared Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.
And Mitchell – who took the 2020 crown with Rob Collard and Barwell – was quick to congratulate the crew of the team’s sister Lambo, Dennis Lind and Leo Machitski, who took this year’s title.
“I have to give big congrats to Dennis and Leo in the #63 car,” he said.
“And it’s fantastic that for the second successive year it’s a Lamborghini which has won the British GT Championship.
“Dennis and Leo have been great teammates and super competitors throughout the season, so I’m happy to see them and the team win the championship.”
“Barwell has enjoyed a fantastic 2020 and 2021, especially given all these demanding Covid and weird times in the world, but they continue to be a very successful team.”
The outfit had already sealed the teams’ crown before the Leicestershire finale.
Fightback season
British Racing Drivers’ Club Super Stars programme racer Mitchell reflected on a fightback season after the worst possible start at Brands Hatch back in May.
“We started the first round stuck in the gravel through no fault of our own,” he said.
“It meant zero points in a race where the winner got 37.5 points in the overall championship.
“We were 11th in the championship when we left Brands, but since then we’ve been chipping away at every race in the season getting higher and higher in the title race.
“In the second half of the season we’ve moved from sixth to fifth, then held fourth for quite a while and we’ve finally finished third, just 20pts off second and 29.5 off the championship winners.”
Fastest laps
At Donington, Mitchell rattled off a series of fastest laps in the opening period of his stint after the driver changeover from Balon.
He closed the gap to champion-elect Lind, but with the outcome of the title on a knife-edge held position to ensure the sister car clinched the title.
“There wasn’t really too much for us to gain by passing Dennis,” said the Angus driver.
“I had a Porsche behind me, but I was comfortably able to keep it at bay and hold my position.
“To get a top five finish in the race after serving a 15-second success penalty was a really positive result.
“And to clinch a top three in the overall championship is really good going for us, and great for the team to get both cars in the top three in the title race.
“It’s been an exciting season.”
