Barwell Motorsport scored its sixth British GT Championship podium finish of the season at Brands Hatch last weekend, however the result could have been even better had fortune been more favourable to the twin Lamborghinis.
Both of the team’s Huracan GT3 EVO2s were well in the mix for honours across the weekend in Kent, however both were also held back by sheer bad luck in Sunday’s race, with a litany of safety car periods and a freak puncture making the penultimate British GT race of the season far from straightforward.
Despite the hurdles, Rob Collard and Hugo Cook fought through to a hard-earned third place in the #1 Collard Group/J&S Accessories/Lady Luck Irish Whiskey-backed car. Alex Martin and Patrick Kujala suffered more, with their impressive pace largely going unrewarded after a puncture set the #78 Dextra Group PLC/RHM Forestry Ltd/Dama Fortuna Premium Tequila back. They did manage to at least score a point but undoubtedly deserved more.
The Brands Hatch weekend is always something of an outlier on the calendar given the lack of pre-event testing around the 2.4-mile Grand Prix Circuit. That puts the pressure on teams to start fast from Free Practice on Saturday, and Barwell made no mistake with both cars showing top-five pace across the opening sessions.
Qualifying would prove vital, given that the tight sweeps of Brands make passing a tough task in a modern GT3 car. Martin in particular shone in the opening segment, placing the #78 an impressive third on the grid, with Collard just behind in fifth. Cook and Kujala respectively then backed up those performances to lock out the second row between them, with the #78 third on combined times and the #1 alongside in fourth.
However, following the double podium finish last time out the #78 would need to spend 15 seconds extra stationary in the pits during its mandatory stop, with the #1 having 10 seconds. Regardless, both cars had the potential to overturn such deficits should their strong Am drivers enjoy a drama-free opening half of the race. Sadly that wouldn’t be the case.
The start itself brought the first bit of misfortune, as Martin lost ground at the start when he hit the rev limiter as the pack approached the lights slightly faster than usual. That bogged the #78 down to fifth, but ironically also opened the door for a flying start from Collard.
Rob ran around the outside of Paddock Hill, and then snatched second from Kevin Tse’s Mercedes-AMG around the outside of Druids in a fine move. Second then became the lead when then Blackthorn Aston Martin was hit with a drive-through for a grid procedure infringement. Being out front would be key to the #1 overturning its 10s pit penalty, but Collard only got half the chance as the race was neutralised multiple times for incidents, with two safety cars bunching the pack and undoing his hard work each time. The most damaging came when a Ginetta GT4 caught fire, causing a long caution period that left just 20 minutes of green-flag running before the pit window opened. After surviving some early pressure from Tse while his tyres came back to temperature, Collard then got the hammer down, managing to pull five seconds clear before boxing for Cook. Likewise, Martin followed the sister car in, with the caution periods preventing him from making any progress from fourth.
Textbook pit work got both cars back out bang on their pit time, but by now both were stuck in traffic. Cook reemerged in third, and successfully chased down both the leading 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG of Keirn Jewiss and the Optimum McLaren driven by factory driver Marvin Kirchhöfer to form a three-car lead train. Cook’s impressive pace made him a constant threat, but the aero wash made following another car incredibly tough. The three would finish in formation, sealing a third podium of the year for Collard and Cook, and a sixth for the Barwell team.
Things were more hectic for the #78, with its longer pit penalty meaning Kujala rejoined in eighth. The Finn pressed on to try and make progress, and it looked like he’d bagged a double pass when the Paddock McLaren and Team Parker Porsche ahead collided, only for a stray piece of debris from the clash to lodge in his front-left Pirelli. The tyre deflated entirely through Sheene, forcing an extra stop and limiting the #78 to 10th. It was at least a point, but also a bitter result from a weekend that had promised more.
The results leave Barwell’s drivers occupying fifth to eighth in the Drivers’ Championship, with Cook leading Collard, Martin and Sandy Mitchell. Barwell Motorsport still runs second in the Teams’ chase.
“That felt like a race we could have had more from, but also a hard-earned result. The safety cars screwed us a few times and the tyres had dropped a bit before the restart, so I had to fight off the Mercedes while they came back to me and then I could really enjoy some hammer time. We made up a decent gap, but it just wasn’t enough. Had we not had the second safety car and I could’ve handed over to Hugo in the lead it would’ve been a different story, I have no doubt.… Still, the car was great to drive throughout, and everybody at the team did a superb job as usual. We can never be upset with a podium.”
“Overall it was a strong weekend. The team did a great job with the car, which felt great to drive throughout. Without the pit stop penalty I reckon that was our race to win. But to come away with third under the circumstances is also a very strong result. Rob drove brilliantly as usual, and then for my stint I had some strong pace and closed on the cars ahead, but it’s so hard to pass around here and follow closely, so I knew passing them would be difficult, but I just wanted to be there to pick up the pieces should anything happen.”
“The result was just very unfortunate for us, and we undoubtedly deserved more but luck just wasn’t with us. I was really pleased with my qualifying performance, so I’ll take that as a definite highlight, but too many things went against us in the race. The start was a bit faster than usual and I was so focused on the lights that when I got on the throttle I immediately hit the rev limiter, which cost me some momentum, but after that I felt I drove well. The safety cars went against us and gave us no chance to gain ground back against the pit penalty, so Patrick was always going to be up against it, the puncture just compounded things. We come away with a point, despite everything, and the podium is great for the team so we just keep pushing.”
“This weekend was always going to be tough for us with the pit penalty, but it didn’t need to be that tough! Alex did a good first stint, but all the safety cars meant we couldn’t make any progress, and when I got in it’s so tough to overtake around here that we knew there was a lot of work to do. I thought we had got a bit of luck when the Porsche and McLaren crashed ahead, but then I felt the puncture from the debris right after and it let go into Sheene so I had to just crawl back. It’s all bad luck, and we definitely deserved a better result.”
“Brands Hatch was far from a straightforward weekend, but everybody in the team did a superb job and we maximised the result given the circumstances. With both cars carrying success penalties into this weekend it was always going to be a battle, so to come away with another podium and more points is definitely not a bad result. Rob and Hugo drove a great race, and it was great to see Hugo closing on the race leaders like he did – he’s a proper rising star. Alex and Patrick just got so unlucky with the safety cars and then the puncture, which just rubbed salt into the wounds. The fact they still scored a point shows how strong their performance was despite those troubles. Now that car heads into the season finale penalty-free, and no doubt looking to end the year on a high.”
