Barwell Motorsport celebrated victories on either side of the garage during the British GT Championship season-opener at Oulton Park, with first Rob and Ricky Collard and then Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell scoring a win apiece to cap a perfect weekend for the Surrey squad.
Barwell’s brace of Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2s proved unbeatable around the Cheshire circuit’s fast sweeps, regardless of what the worst of the British weather could throw at them, with each crew successfully converting a pole position into victory. The results mean Martin and Mitchell lead the drivers’ championship in the Dextra Lighting-backed Huracan, with Rob and Ricky Collard second in the standings aboard the Collard Group car. Black Bull Scotch Whisky-supported Barwell Motorsport also leads the teams’ championship.
Father and son Rob and Ricky Collard mastered the worst of the conditions on Monday morning, before Mitchell and Martin combined to score big in the afternoon, with Martin pulling off a big move for the lead right before the race was sadly heavily disrupted by caution periods.
The results mark Lamborghini’s ninth British GT win at Oulton Park, and Barwell’s eighth since 2016. It’s also the first time Barwell has won both races at the venue since 2017.
The Collards got the ball rolling with a dream start, scoring a superb victory in highly tricky conditions, with Martin and Mitchell doubling the joy by securing the final step of the podium in the sister car. Rob left it late to snatch pole on Saturday, with his final flying lap in the dying moments edging the 2020 champion onto top spot. Martin initially annexed fourth on the grid, but was bumped up to third after the #18 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG was hit with a grid penalty for not completing enough timed laps.
With the grid forming up beneath persistent rain, the race began behind the safety car before the cars were released in anger a few minutes later. Rob soaked up some early pressure from Ian Loggie’s Mercedes-AMG before managing to pull out a slender lead, with Martin impressively shadowing the two former champions by holding third on his first British GT start.
Racing was neutralised when one of the GT4 Mustangs lost control into the Shell hairpin and beached on the wet grass, summoning a full course yellow period and setting the order until after the pit window. Collard stopped to hand to Ricky, with the #63 Huracan rejoining in the lead, ahead of Phil Keen who had taken over from Loggie, and Mitchell who was now aboard the #78 for the second half.
The safety car was called to bunch the pack ahead of racing resuming, and it was here that Ricky and the team spotted an opportunity. When the safety car lights extinguished halfway around the lap, Ricky began to drop back, knowing he had several lapped GT4 runners between himself and second-placed Keen to use as a buffer. Ricky bolted to resume the race early, immediately carving out a comfortable advantage over his pursuers. There was initially confusion about how far the car had dropped behind the safety car, but the team rightly proved it had followed the rules to the letter, and Ricky’s advantage stood.
While Keen was able to eat into the lead late on, Ricky held firm to score a dream debut victory for the father and son duo. Mitchell also thrived in the conditions, setting multiple fastest laps as he climbed all over Keen’s Mercedes-AMG, but was unable to find a way past. Third did at least limit the damage of the Compensation Time the #78 would need to serve in the pits later.
And that would prove crucial for the final outing, with Mitchell starting on pole on a wet but drying track, and with more than a sniff of overturning the deficit given his pace across the day. Mitchell got a good getaway to lead Tom Gamble’s Optimum Motorsport McLaren, Keen and Ricky Collard into Old Hall. Racing was soon neutralised though when a multi-car tangle in the following GT4 field brought out the full course yellows, but fortunately they were withdrawn with enough time remaining that Mitchell could press on for the second half of his stint.
After shaking off the attentions of Gamble at the restart, Mitchell managed to pull seven seconds clear before diving into the pits to hand to Martin for the second half. Once the additional compensation time had been served, Martin rejoined, but was door-to-door with the Optimum McLaren as he did so. Not wanting to risk a penalty, Martin slotted in behind, but didn’t stay there long as he cannily made use of fresh slick tyres to hunt down the drier parts of the circuit to get a run on the McLaren out of Cascades, drafting back into the lead on the run to Shell.
No sooner had Martin got back to the head of the field, the race was put on hold again. This time to both clear up debris and repair barriers following a GT3 Aston Martin crashing at Old Hall, and then to help recover a stricken McLaren GT3 which had ground to a halt out on track. The combined length of the clean-up meant racing basically resumed on the run to the chequered flag, with Martin crossing the line to huge celebration from the team on the pitwall.
Ricky Collard did a great job of staying with the leaders through his stint, running fourth and pulling enough of an advantage over those behind that the car only dropped to fifth once he pitted for Rob and served the maximum compensation time after their earlier win. Even though Rob was denied the chance to make any progress due to the way the race finished, the pair still finished the weekend with a solid haul of points.
“Winning the first race alongside Ricky was a bit of a dream. The race had some really tricky conditions, but the car was superb throughout and we made a key call behind the safety car which paid off. Standing on that podium was really special, and it’s been a superb weekend for the team overall. We perhaps could have had a podium in race two had things worked out differently around the pit window, but I’m still really happy with this start to the season.”
“You can never leave a race weekend unhappy when you’ve won a race, and that was a special win for me alongside my dad. I’m still learning all about the Huracan GT3 Evo 2, so to win first time out is amazing. It’s a shame about how race two ended, for everybody because we come here to race, but we’ll move on to Silverstone with some great momentum in the whole team.”
“I’m delighted to win first time out in British GT. Race one was a real learning curve with the conditions, but I actually felt comfortable and kept pace with the leaders. Race two was more tense as we had a bit of a chaotic pit stop and when I got going I couldn’t move the pedal position so I couldn’t get properly comfortable in the car. I tucked in behind the McLaren after the stop but could see he was taking the wet parts of the circuit as soon as he rejoined, so I darted for the drier sections, got a run and used that momentum to drag past for the lead as soon as I could. Considering how the rest of the race unfolded, I’m glad I got the move done as soon as possible.”
“What an incredible weekend for the entire team! We worked really hard over the winter to make some changes to the Huracan GT3 Evo 2 and these results just show the steps we’ve made. The podium in race one was great, and Alex drove brilliantly. The plan for race two was to simply get my head down and try to pull a gap big enough to overturn the compensation time in the pits. Tom [Gamble] was very quick initially, but I think then his tyres started to wilt, which gave me some breathing space, and then watching Alex’s move for the lead after the stops was so rewarding.”
“It’s not often you get a weekend like this in this sport. British GT is such a competitive championship, so to win both races here this weekend is something pretty special. Rob and Ricky were outstanding in the first race, managing tricky conditions and the team made some key calls. And congratulations to Alex and Sandy for victory in race two. It’s a shame the race ended the way it did, but their pace all weekend has been undeniable and to come away with a win, a podium and a championship lead is a superb start. We now can’t wait for Silverstone.”
