British GT: Barwell Announces 2021 Driver Line-Ups

Barwell Motorsport, reigning Intelligent Money British GT Championship Teams champions, has announced its two-car GT3 line-up for the 2021 season of the premier domestic GT racing series.

Sandy Mitchell, who, along with teammate Rob Collard, lifted the GT3 drivers title in 2020 in the team’s #78 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, will be joined by Adam Balon in a Pro-Am pairing. Balon drove to third place in the 2020 overall GT3 drivers standings alongside Phil Keen.

20-year-old Mitchell, who has been recently announced as a factory driver for the Modena marque, first raced in the British GT Championship in 2016 when he and teammate Ciaran Haggerty piloted the #59 Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S to finish third in the GT4 drivers standings. The Forfar-based pilot won the Pro-Am class of the 2020 Total 24 Hours of Spa in Barwell’s #77 Lamborghini alongside teammates Rob Collard, Leo Machitski and Ricky Collard.

The 20-year-old Scot is excited about the opportunity to defend his title.

“I’m really looking forward to returning to British GT in 2021 and it’s a fantastic feeling to start the season as defending champion,” said Mitchell. “We will be fully focused on the new season ahead and will be ready to hit the ground running at Round 1.

“It’ll be exciting racing alongside Adam, especially with the championship more heavily weighted to Pro-Am and Silver-Am and I think it’ll make the championship very close.”

Competing alongside Mitchell and Keen will be Barwell regular Leo Machitski and Dennis Lind. Machitski has many years experience racing with Mark Lemmer’s squad, the 37-year-old Russian driver helping the team to its first British GT title 14 years ago in an Aston Martin DBRS9 GT3. Machitski took the Am title in the 2018 and 2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge Endurance series as well as winning the Pro-Am class with Barwell at Spa in 2020.

Dennis Lind has had several previous outings in British GT, driving alongside Michael Igoe in the WPI Motorsport Lamborghini.

“It’s a very competitive series and I’m very excited to start a new challenge,” said Leo Machitski. ” I have many great memories which take me back to 2006 when I first started my racing career and won the British GT Championship with Barwell Motorsport in the GT3 class.

“I am delighted to be working with the team again and especially teaming up with Dennis after winning the Barcelona 24 Hours last year. We know that we have a lot of work to ahead of us but I’m definitely enthusiastic about that.”

The 2021 Intelligent Money British GT Championship gets underway at Oulton Park on April 3 – 5.