The Barwell Motorsport team catapulted itself into the heart of the British GT Championship title fight thanks to its twin Lamborghinis producing a stunning fightback during the latest round of the British GT Championship at Spa-Francorchamps.
Barwell never had the fastest package across the weekend, with its Huracan GT3 EVO2s suffering a performance deficit against the rival Aston Martins and McLarens. Yet the team’s resilience shone through on race day, with both cars making strong forward progress to collectively score both a third podium of the year and a heap of points towards the GT3 Teams’ Championship.
Rob Collard and Hugo Cook celebrated a hard-earned third place aboard the Collard Group/J&S Accessories/Lady Luck Irish Whiskey-backed entry, right ahead of Alex Martin and Patrick Kujala’s Dextra Group PLC/RHM Forestry Ltd/Dama Fortuna Premium Tequila-supported car as the twin Lamborghinis out-lasted and out-raced much of their opposition to finish in formation.
British GT’s annual European foray to the Belgian Grand Prix circuit always brings a host of fresh challenges, but two stood out this time: speed and heat.
The event’s Balance of Performance regulations placed a heavy burden on the Lamborghinis, with the cars struggling for both low-end torque out of the corners, and a lack of top speed on the straights as a result. Regularly giving up 3-4mph on the super-fast Kemmel Straight alone, the team’s hopes would rest on strong pace across the more flowing second sector. However, with track temperatures in excess of 50 degrees torturing both the tyres and brakes, preservation would become key to managing the three-hour race.
Qualifying proved tricky under the circumstances, with Collard and Cook managing fifth on combined times, with Martin and Kujala seventh, both cars over a second away from the pole-sitting Blackthorn Aston Martin.
However, Barwell can rarely be counted out in the longer races, and a mixture of strong strategy and consistent pace proved the key.
Race starts at Spa have been messy in recent years, so both cars exercised some caution when the lights went out, Collard opting to run around the outside of La Source and Martin darting for a gap up the inside. The first bit of misfortune occurred when Martin was then hit from behind, nudging him into another car and resulting in both front and rear aero damage for the #78 which instantly upset the balance of the car.
Martin fell back to eighth as a result, with Collard pulling a fine pass on the 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG of Kevin Tse to snatch fourth by the end of the first tour. That then became third when the Optimum McLaren ahead caught traffic, allowing Collard to pounce for a podium spot. The second bit of bad luck then came when both Collard and Martin were handed drive-through penalties for track limits; Collard’s after being forced wide to pass GT4 traffic, and Martin struggling with the damage and the tracking being knocked out.
Once both had served their sentence, there was plenty of racing left to run to recover, and both Collard and Martin made their first stop to hand to the pro drivers on the hour mark. Soon after, a strategic opportunity arose when the race was neutralised after a GT4 BMW ground to a halt out on track. Spa’s length meant both cars stayed firmly on the lead lap, and the resulting safety car undid much of the damage from the penalties by bunching the pack for the restart.
The caution period also gave both cars the ideal opportunity to burn the second of their three mandatory stops with the race at reduced speed, so Cook and Kujala peeled back in after short stints to hand to Collard and Martin, who would tick off their remaining drive time and set up a dash to the flag for the pro drivers.
As a series of penalties rained down for their rivals, the twin Lamborghinis kept things clean and gradually climbed the order heading towards the final hour. Martin found a way past Collard to spearhead the team’s attack, but was then caught in an unlucky collision with the #3 Optimum McLaren when attempting to snatch fourth place from Matt Topham heading into Les Combes. Martin successfully made the pass, but side-to-side contact as both cars went for the apex landed the #78 with a 10-second penalty at its final stop.
Both cars pitted together just inside the final hour, with the #78’s penalty reversing the order as Cook pulled away to rejoin for the final sprint with Kujala right behind. Now running second and third, a double podium seemed on the cards, but neither car could properly defend against the speed of the #77 Optimum McLaren. Despite determined efforts from first Kujala and then Cook, the McLaren drafted its way into second, leaving Cook to defend from Kujala. While the Finn attacked as best he could, neither driver was prepared to risk what would stand as a superb team result, the cars finishing in formation to notch Barwell’s biggest team score of the season so far.
A second podium appearance of the year moved Cook to fourth in the GT3 Drivers’ Championship, with Martin right behind in fifth. The score also put Barwell just 13.5pts off the lead of the Teams’ Championship with four races remaining.
“That was the hardest race of the season, and probably the toughest I’ve had for a few years. The heat made things so difficult to manage. It’s also been a struggle with the car as we lacked straight-line speed here, which makes you then push harder in the corners, placing extra stress on the tyres and risking track limits. We had to make sure we made the least mistakes to get this podium, and to come away with a trophy makes us feel incredibly happy.”
“Such a difficult race. I’m just so happy as it feels like a win. We’ve lacked outright pace all weekend, even though the car’s actually been mega to drive we’ve just not had that cutting edge. But in the race we made a few changes to try and gain some front-end bite, but with the temperatures maybe it was a bit too much and we peaked the tyres very early and it became a bit oversteery. It was hard work, but so rewarding to get back on the podium.”
“The result was very positive after everything that had been thrown at us. The hit at the start made things so tough as we lost a dive plane and damaged both the rear diffuser and the front. I was still trying to carry the speed through Eau Rouge and Blanchimont but with the aero in that state I ran wide too often. Strategy brought us back into play. I felt I was alongside the McLaren at Les Combes, but the onus is always on the overtaking car in that situation and the stewards’ decision is their decision. We only lost one place, so fourth is strong points on a day when a lot of our rivals were behind us. I feel it’s been a really good weekend for us as a whole, and we head to Snetterton with no time penalty and in a strong position.”
“Considering the penalties and all the things against us, we maximised the result, but a podium would have been possible on another day. The damage early on meant the car was not 100%, but we knew already that the Astons and McLarens were on a different planet, so we were unlikely to fight with them on pure pace. I’m happy with the points for Alex and for the team.”
“This result honestly feels like a win for us. Considering the position we were in earlier in the weekend, everybody at the team had to bring their A game to make this possible, and the team did a superb job. We got unlucky early on but the safety car brought us back into play, and from there on the drivers were exceptional in incredibly tough circumstances with the heat and the physicality of this race. We knew we couldn’t compete with the Astons and McLarens on pure pace alone, so we had to be bang-on with strategy and keep mistakes to a minimum. The reward is our best score of the year so far across both cars, plenty of ground made up in the championship, and we have everything to fight for next time out at Snetterton.”
