Both of Barwell Motorsport’s Lamborghinis showed the pace and consistency to have left last weekend’s British GT Championship Silverstone 500 with silverware, but each was denied by unfortunate penalties during a turbulent race.
Despite both cars running inside the top three during British GT’s showpiece event, fortune wasn’t in the team’s favour on this occasion. However, the setbacks did provide a thrilling finale where both cars charged back inside the points with strong closing stints to keep up the pressure in the championship chase.
Rob Collard made a successful return to the championship aboard the #1 Collard Group/J&S Accessories/Lady Luck Irish Whiskey-backed Huracan GT3 EVO2, with his eye-catching opening stint being backed up by impressive pace from team-mate Hugo Cook. The pair would secure sixth, but would have been shoo-ins for a podium had it not been for a hugely unlucky penalty for a yellow flag infringement.
With Patrick Kujala subbing for Sandy Mitchell aboard the #78 Dextra Group PLC/RHM Forestry Ltd/Dama Fortuna Premium Tequila-supported car, the Finn and Alex Mitchell beat bad luck and illness to bag a haul of points right behind in seventh.
British GT’s seasonal showpiece always draws a crowd, with the race attracting the biggest GT3 entry of the year with 21 cars going head-to-head in the top class, meaning success would be hard-earned against top-line competition.
Barwell’s crews made their mark early, with Cook in particular showing his potential by finishing inside the top three after testing. This was made more impressive by the fact the event’s Balance of Performance restrictions robbed the Lamborghini of some straight-line speed against the McLarens and Aston Martins.
This placed an emphasis on long-run pace rather than single-lap speed as Barwell set about tuning the Huracans for the three-hour race ahead rather than a Qualifying blast. Martin and Kujala therefore secured fourth on the grid for Sunday’s race, with Collard and Cook just behind in eighth. However, both crews knew the potential was there to move forward when the lights went out. And that’s exactly what they did.
Despite suffering with a virus on race day, Martin beat the bug to make a flying start, immediately working into the podium fight as Collard followed suit, putting on a great charge to make up multiple places, which included a superb pass on the Paradine Competition BMW through traffic as a highlight.
Soon, the Barwell cars ran fourth and fifth, with Collard setting the fastest lap of the opening stint. He eventually found a way past Martin just before the race was neutralised for the first time, presenting an ideal opportunity to pit. However, this would also trigger the troubles.
Collard stopped to hand to Cook, while Martin relayed Kujala with the race at reduced speed. However, when the cars rejoined the #1 was handed a drive-through for a yellow flag infringement at the start of the caution period, while the #78 would be hit with a 1-second stop-go for being fractionally under its minimum pit time. A second penalty for a pit infringement set the #78 back further, but also made its fightback all the more impressive.
Once Cook and Collard had served their extra pit visit, and the #78 got its delays out of the way, both cars produced impressive comebacks across the second half, working their way back into the top 10. That set up a tight final hour, with Cook overcoming a delay with the red light on pit exit after his final stop to nip past the Paddock Motorsport McLaren for sixth before chasing down the Orange Racing McLaren ahead. However, once within striking distance the McLaren’s straight-line advantage and effect of the dirty air prevented Cook from being able to make a move. He did however record the third-fastest lap of the race during his efforts.
It was a similar situation for the #78, with Martin’s consistency hauling the car back up the order before handing to Kujala, who rejoined eighth for the final stint and crawled all over the Paddock car but was likewise unable to find a way past. A post-race time penalty for the McLaren would later move the #78 up to seventh, adding some valuable extra points to Martin’s tally.
The result leaves Martin third in the GT3 Drivers’ Championship, with Cook fourth. Barwell runs second in the Teams’ standings.
“Ultimately, it’s been a disappointing weekend, but it’s still points on the board, especially considering I felt pretty rubbish before the race start. There are definitely positives in the fact the car felt great, but we just didn’t have the pace of the McLarens and we got some pretty harsh penalties due to tiny margins. But the rules are the rules and we move on to the next one.”
“The result is frustrating because I believe we could have had more, but luck was not with us this time. The race was hard work being stuck behind the McLarens for so long, just unable to find a way past with their speed on the straights. Still, we got points for Alex and the team, despite having the penalties that would have put many other cars out, so our comeback was good.”
“It was great being back in the car, even if I felt my qualifying was pretty average. I just struggled to get pace out of the car when the temperatures were a bit lower on Saturday, but on Sunday they came up and it came alive. I really enjoyed my opening stint and being on the attack. We definitely had the pace for a podium had it not been for the penalty, which was just really unfortunate. But we did well to come back from that and get back into some decent points.”
“It was a bit of a frustrating race, in truth. Some others gambled and got lucky whereas we didn’t. But that’s racing. I was very pleased with my stints, and the pace was really strong whenever I had clean air. I just struggled in dirty air any time I caught anybody and would lose the front end, which made getting any moves done difficult. Still, we’ll take the points and move on.”
“The Silverstone 500 is never a straightforward race, and we simply got unlucky this year. With the BoP we had we were always going to have a real fight on our hands against the McLarens and Aston Martins, and the penalties were really unfortunate and added to that. Still, the way the drivers kept their heads and hauled themselves back into the running showed their determination and spirit, and that’s ultimately how you fight for championships. To score points across both cars is never a bad thing, even if we know we could have had more. We’ll come out fighting again at Oulton Park in a few weeks’ time.”
