Rob Collard and Sandy Mitchell emerged triumphant from a hard-fought opening race aboard the #78 Dama Fortuna Tequila/Collard Group-backed Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 to score both theirs and the Barwell team’s first European win of the season.

 

The weekend in France could have been even better, had it not been for an unlucky time penalty robbing the duo of a second podium finish on Sunday. Regardless, the points haul was enough to put the pair just a handful of scores off top spot in the Bronze Drivers’ Championship.

 

Despite a heap of bad luck falling on the opposite side of the garage, Gabriel Rindone and Patrick Kujala fought hard to score a top-six finish in the #72 JNKD/VIP Motors-supported Lamborghini, keeping both drivers in touch of the championship top five.

Mitchell and Collard ensured the team’s weekend would get off to a glorious start, fighting hard to secure the first Fanatec GT victory of the year in what proved to be an ultra-tight contest.

 

Mitchell took the wheel of the #78 for qualifying and again impressed, putting the car third in the Bronze order and a strong seventh overall in the 32-car field. Kujala would line up seventh in class after falling foul of some traffic on his quickest effort.

 

With the race taking place at dusk and running into the night the packed field made for a spectacular sight as lights blazed into turn one at the start. Mitchell made some strong early moves to rise to sixth overall, vaulting past class rival Dennis Marschall’s Rutronik Racing Porsche in the process. However, Mitchell would then get boxed in and shoved wide by the Porsche at the chicane, recovering to hold fourth in class. Meanwhile there was drama up ahead as the class-leading Century BMW was handed a 10-second penalty for contact with the race-leading Ferrari.

 

Knowing a clean race would be vital on a tight and twisty track like Magny-Cours, Mitchell kept the leading group in sight by the time the pit window opened and he dived in to hand to Collard, running just over a second behind the Rutronik Porsche. Both cars pitted together, but Barwell’s turnaround was faster, with Collard returning to the fast lane before the Porsche, which was later released right across the bows of the Lamborghini, catching the attention of the stewards.

 

Collard kept the pressure up, passing the Tresor Attempto Audi of Andrey Mukovoz for third when he ran wide at Chateau d’Eau corner. Knowing the BMW up front was carrying a penalty and the Porsche directly in front was under investigation, Collard harried Dustin Blattner in the Rutronik car and at one point got past into turn one, only for Blattner to fight back. Collard held station and took the flag in third, just a few tenths behind Blattner. However, the combination of the BMW’s penalty, and the Rutronik car being handed a five-second penalty for its unsafe release elevated Mitchell and Collard to a hard-earned victory, sparking celebrations from the entire Barwell team.

 

It also marked the team’s fifth Fanatec GT podium finish in a row, continuing a streak that began back at the 24 Hours of Spa in June.

 

The #72 never really got the chance to get into the fight after Kujala was rudely turned around during contact with the #71 Ferrari during the opening stint. That cost the car too much ground to fight for the top spots, but the combined efforts of Kujala and Rindone did help haul the #72 back to seventh at the flag and at least net some points.

 

For much of the second race it looked like Collard and Mitchell were on the way to what would have been their fourth Sprint Cup podium in a row, as the #78 took the chequered flag third on the road. However, an unfortunate time penalty stripped the pair of the result, which was a bitter pill to swallow after an otherwise superb effort.

 

Despite being blocked on his best flying lap during Sunday morning qualifying, Collard did enough to secure sixth on the grid for the race, with Rindone lining up alongside in seventh, just 0.3s behind his more experienced team-mate.

 

Collard wasted no time when the lights went out, pulling off another one of his now-customary flying starts to scythe up the order. By the time the pack reached the Adelaide Hairpin, the #78 was up eight places overall and into a superb second in class. However, this was also where the drama occurred when two separate incidents – a clash between the #6 Audi and #14 Ferrari heading through turn one, and then the #26 Saintéloc Audi crashing at turn two – caused the race to be neutralised behind the safety car.

 

While Collard ran second, he was adjudged to have made up some places right as the safety car had been called, a fractional call amid a chaotic first lap. The car would be handed a 10-second penalty at the end of the race. With less than 45 minutes remaining once the race went green again, it was a hammer blow to any podium hopes.

 

Regardless, the crew pressed on and another lightning pit stop from the Barwell crew – allied to a flying out-lap from Mitchell – helped the car vault into the lead of the race after the stops. However, the Scotsman soon had the Rutronik Porsche driven by Marschall right behind. As in race one, Mitchell was again squeezed off the road at the chicane by the Porsche, leaving him to defend from Louis Prette’s Garage 59 McLaren for second. Prette then found a way past when Mitchell was delayed by the Team Engstler Audi weaving in front of him and costing him momentum. Third at the flag was converted to seventh once the penalty was applied, scant reward for the crew’s superb effort.

 

The drama at the start also played a part in hampering the #72’s chances. Once the Audi and Ferrari found the gravel at the start, the resulting cloud of dust and dirt blinded Rindone as he accelerated away, forcing him to lift off and costing the car places. Rindone recovered to catch the pack and ran one lap longer to try and take advantage of a quieter pit lane. The plan worked to some extent as Kujala took over and rejoined ahead of the #66 Audi driven by Dylan Pereira. The two engaged in a tight fight that was decided when Kujala unluckily slithered wide at turn three, before recovering to chase the Audi home in sixth, just ahead of the penalised sister car.

 

The results mean Collard and Mitchell run second in the Bronze Drivers’ Championship, just 9.5pts down on the class leaders with two races remaining. Rindone and Kujala are eighth and the Barwell Motorsport team sits second in the Teams’ Championship, 9pts off top spot.

 

Barwell Motorsport team principal Mark Lemmer said: “Overall Magny-Cours was a very strong weekend for us as a team – the performance was there for all to see and had it not been for the penalty we’d be walking away as joint championship leaders. Still, I’m delighted for Rob and Sandy getting the first European win of the year. A huge amount of hard work goes into creating a programme like this and winning races is the ultimate reward for everybody. They were exceptional this weekend and a result like this has been coming after the two second places in Hockenheim. They’ll go into the season finale with eyes on snatching more wins and the championship title, no doubt.

 

“I feel for Gabriel and Patrick in the sister car. It just wasn’t their weekend with bad luck costing them in each race. They showed real flashes of pace – highlighted by Patrick being fastest in class and third quickest overall in pre-event testing – so they absolutely have the potential for a big score before the end of the year. We’ll be right behind them pushing to help them achieve that in Barcelona in October.”

 

Barwell Motorsport next returns to British GT Championship action for the two-hour race at Donington Park across the weekend of September 7/8, where the squad will be aiming to wrap up the GT3 Teams’ Championship.