Lamborghini Factory Driver Sandy Mitchell seals Nurburgring podium after storming driver with Dama Fortuna and Barwell.
Lamborghini Factory Driver Sandy Mitchell seals Nurburgring podium after storming driver with Dama Fortuna and Barwell.
Sandy bagged his first podium finish of the season in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup after a scintillating drive at the Nurburgring. The 24-year-old from Forfar was the quickest driver in the ultra-competitive Bronze class over the whole weekend, posting not only the fastest time in qualifying, but also in the race.
Partnered by team-mates, American-based Englishman Till Bechtolsheimer and Frenchman Antoine Doquin, his No 78 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2, prepared by Barwell Motorsport and backed by Dama Fortuna Tequila took the final step on the class podium after the three-hour race in Germany.
“That was our strongest performance of the season in the Endurance Cup, and it’s fantastic for everyone in the Barwell team to finally finish on the podium,” Sandy, personally backed by Huntly-based Black Bull Scotch Whisky and Tunnocks, stated. “The guys gave me a very, very quick car this weekend and it’s great to deliver on-track. Till and Antoine kept the #78 car at the front of the pack through their stints, and that allowed me to really go for it in my final stint.”
Sandy displayed blistering pace in his qualifying session, posting a quickest lap of 1min 53.522secs to be fifth-fastest, and out-pacing the majority of the PRO drivers in the 50-car field. His time, combined with those of Bechtolsheimer and Doquin meant the #78 started from third in class on the grid. Bechtolsheimer avoided a number of incidents in a chaotic opening lap before handing over to Doquin. The Frenchman then pitted to hand the Lamborghini over to Sandy with 64-minutes remaining, and after the final pitstops had been completed the Scot was fourth in class, almost 10-seconds behind the third-placed BMW. Sandy then rattled off a dazzling series of seven personal fastest laps, culminating in a 1:56.216s, the fastest lap of the race in the Bronze class. With 38-minutes remaining he was tight on the rear bumper of the BMW. “Catching a car, of course, is one thing, but getting passed is another,” he explained. “Because of the Balance of Performance, all the cars are so equally matched that overtaking is really difficult.”
With 32-minutes remaining, Sandy saw his opportunity and dived down the inside at the tight right-hander. Forced to back-out slightly as the BMW closed the gap, the resulting contact forced the Scot to take corrective action as the Lamborghini was nudged into a sideways slide. “I was concerned that I may have picked up a puncture,” he continued, “but the team confirmed the tyre was fine, and also let me know the BMW was poised to receive a time penalty for a previous incident.”
Having hounded the rear of the BMW for the remainder of the race, Sandy took the chequered flag just 0.487s behind it but, with his rival receiving a five-second time penalty, the Scot sealed third place by 4.513s. “I knew I just had to hold position to get the podium finish, so there was no reason to take any unnecessary risks over the closing half-hour,” the former British GT champion said. “It’s been a great couple of weekends in Germany for me and the team, twice finishing second last weekend in the two Sprint races at Hockenheim, and now finishing third here in the Endurance Cup. It’s super reward for all the hard work everyone at Barwell has been doing, and we’re determined to maintain these performance levels through to the end of the season.”
Sandy, currently second in a tight fight for the British GT title, is back in European action on August 24/25 with another Sprint double-header, this time at Magny-Cours in France.
Sandy, currently second in a tight fight for the British GT title, is back in European action on August 24/25 with another Sprint double-header, this time at Magny-Cours in France.