Barwell Motorsport began its British GT Championship title defence in thrilling fashion at Donington Park last weekend, scoring a superb second place and a healthy points haul as both its crews put on impressive displays.
Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell produced a superb performance across the opening two-hour race of the year aboard the #78 Dextra Group/RHM Forestry Limited/Dama Fortuna Premium Tequila-backed Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Their charge culminating in a nail-biting finish that kept a huge trackside crowd on the edge of their seats as they went all-out for victory, only to be denied top spot by a single second.
Matt Topham and Hugo Cook also shone, putting their disrupted pre-season firmly behind them by bringing the #1 Collard Group/J&S Accessories/Lady Luck Irish Whiskey car home in sixth to net solid points.
With the entire weekend playing out under glorious spring sunshine, Barwell’s twin Lamborghinis caught the eye from the very start of the event, with Martin and Mitchell showing top-three pace across the opening Practice and Pre-Qualifying sessions as Topham and Cook dialled themselves in to their new surroundings in the sister car.
The stage was set for a close qualifying, with Donington’s long straights offering something of an advantage to the rival Mercedes-AMGs from 2 Seas Motorsport. And it would be the battle against these two cars that would become the story of the weekend for the #78.
Martin and Mitchell qualified third on combined times, with the twin Mercedes-AMGs locking out the front row of the grid on single-lap pace, but in race conditions the Lamborghinis were well set to fight back.
This was instantly proven when Martin dived to the inside of Kevin Tse to immediately snatch second place at the start of Sunday’s race, before settling into a rhythm to chase Charles Dawson in the lead car. Martin held station, edging clear of Tse while also keeping Dawson honest until a safety car was called when a GT4 Lotus was shunted into the gravel. This offered Martin a chance to reset as he clung to the gearbox of the lead Mercedes-AMG on the restart, pitting just a few second behind to hand to Mitchell for the second half.
Installed, refuelled and with fresh Pirellis bolted on, Mitchell rejoined and immediately lit up the timing screen by setting the fastest lap of the race as he began to chip away at the gap to Kiern Jewiss, now in the rival AMG. Mitchell closed to within a second before traffic intervened and the margin between the top two cars concertinaed. Entering the closing 10 minutes, Mitchell began to make his move again, getting to within half-a-second in the closing laps. While Mitchell’s commitment through the chicane usually brought him within touching distance into the Melbourne Loop, the AMG’s sheer grunt on the pit straight prevented a dive at turn one. Mitchell lined up for one final effort on the penultimate lap, but his hopes were dashed when he caught traffic down the Craner Curves and was forced to lift off. Regardless, second represents a great start to the year for the team and Martin’s championship ambitions.
Things were less straightforward for the #1, but Topham and Cook performed impressively considering the circumstances. Recruited late on when reigning champion Rob Collard was forced to pull out of this event, Topham adapted to the Huracan brilliantly, with he and Cook qualifying eighth and Topham overcoming an unlucky spin to keep the car well in the fight by the time he handed across to Cook.
Across the second half, Cook excelled, lapping faster than all those around him and with his average stint time closely comparable to those of the race leaders. It was this pace that helped the #1 climb the order to an eventual sixth place, much to the enjoyment of Rob Collard who watched on from the garage ahead of his return to the hot seat.
The combined results mean Martin and Mitchell run second in the GT3 Drivers’ Championship, with Barwell also holding second in the Teams’ standings heading into round two, the Silverstone 500, later this month.
“That was a very solid weekend. I just loved getting my head down and getting back racing. We pushed as hard as we could but the Mercedes-AMGs just had the grunt around this track. That said, our car felt excellent all race and the team did a superb job as usual, so we’ll take the points and see how the rest of the year unfolds.”
“It was a great race to be a part of and I was getting flashbacks to last year when I followed Phil Keen round in a Mercedes-AMG for a long time. I eventually got past that time, but the same opportunity didn’t come up here. They seemed to have a bit more than us in the middle part of the race. I was planning to go for it late on, hopefully get a run out of the chicane and toward the hairpin, but there was no recovering the lost momentum from traffic. We couldn’t have given any more and we’ll happily take second. It’s still a great start.”
“I really enjoyed my first race weekend in the Lamborghini and with Barwell. It was great to get my first full stint in the car and when I took over I had some space on track so I could explore its potential and the times were really good. I definitely think we have something good to build on and the car was just so good to drive.”
“I genuinely loved this weekend. We improved every session to the point I was only 0.5s off Alex in qualifying after such limited testing. I was delighted with that. It was important to just keep the car in one piece and give it to Hugo, but I made up some places at the start and got stuck in and just loved it. I cannot say enough about working with Barwell – the help from Alex, Sandy and Hugo and the sheer amount of data and information to help me understand the car and get to where I got across just a single race weekend… it’s been an amazing experience.”
“This was a very strong start to the season, against what will clearly be some very strong opposition this season… and we wouldn’t want it any other way. You can never be upset with second, and both Alex and Sandy were superb all weekend and deserved to be right up there. I’m also really pleased for Hugo and Matt. Their preparation was far from straightforward but both drivers got their heads down and dug in so impressively. Matt got up to speed very quickly and worked so well with the whole team, he’s been a pleasure to work with. Hugo drove brilliantly across his stint and showed exactly why we consider him a real up-and-coming talent. He’ll only get quicker with seat time and will undoubtedly be one to watch. It was also great to have Rob with us in the garage, and we can’t wait to welcome him back into the car at the earliest opportunity.”
