Sandy bagged two podium finishes on his return to the British GT Championship.

Lamborghini factory driver, Scot Sandy bagged two podium finishes on his return to the British GT Championship at Snetterton with Barwell, and he was delighted in further boosting the championship hopes of his team-mate, Alex Martin.

Sandy, the 25-year-old from Forfar who won the title in 2020, has restricted participation in this year’s championship, racing at only four of the seven race weekends. Partnering Martin in the their No 78 Dextra-backed Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 prepared by Barwell Motorsport, the duo finished third in the opening 60-minute race at the 2.99-mile, 12-turn Norfolk circuit, before overcoming a five-second success penalty in the second to finish P2. The results maintained Sandy’s record of having finished on the Snetterton podium every year since 2020.

Sandy: “That was a really solid weekend from everyone in the Barwell team,” Sandy, personally backed by Tunnocks, stated. “With two race weekends remaining in the season, our primary goal was to boost Alex’s championship hopes. With today’s points haul, we’ve certainly done that.”

The duo’s double podium has elevated Martin to fourth in the title race, but more significantly now just 18 points off the leaders.
Starting the opening race from sixth on the grid, Martin made a strong start immediately easing the #78 car into fifth. And when he pitted to hand the car to Sandy, Martin had improved further to fourth. Benefitting from success penalties served by other cars, Sandy exited in third, a position he held through to the chequered flag, finishing just 0.777secs off second place. In the second one-hour race, Sandy started from third on the grid and immediately made a committed move to ease past the #77 McLaren in second. Forceful defence saw the Scot eased wide on to the sun baked grass.

“I tried a move round the outside of the #77 McLaren, but I didn’t think he’d give me much space, which he didn’t,” Sandy smiled afterwards. “I thought it was fair enough. I had a little bit of a gap to the car behind, so I thought it was worth the try.”

With 28-minutes remaining, the Scot pitted from third at the mandatory driver change, with Martin rejoining in the same position, 4.0 secs behind the #77. The Englishman set about hounding the McLaren for the next 24 minutes before finally delivering a masterful overtake.

“Over the whole weekend Alex gave a very strong performance,” Sandy said. “I know he was frustrated by his qualifying performance. He really should have been in the top three but suffered a snap of overstep on what would have been his fastest lap. But he definitely delivered today. In both races he was very much one of the faster drivers on the grid.”

And Sandy was delighted with the overall performance by everyone in the Barwell team. “Again they delivered a super-fast car and quick pitstops,” he continued. “In both races we were on the front foot, which was good: we were pulling away from the cars behind us and putting pressure on the cars in front. It’s always so difficult to overtake on some of these British circuits in the GT3 machinery. But a double podium and a great haul of points is exactly what we needed for Alex. He’s right in the fight for the title now.”

While Sandy will return to British GT action for the season finale, the two-hour race at Donington in October, he heads to Misano in Italy this weekend (July 19/20) for the latest double-header in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Pro Cup.