Angus ace Sandy Mitchell is heading into the biggest race of his year as a record-breaker at one of the world’s most iconic race circuits.
And he’s hoping the love affair with Spa-Francorchamps continues in the weekend’s 24 Hours endurance classic.
The 22-year-old Lamborghini factory driver from Forfar is gunning for his third class win at the home of the Belgian Grand Prix.
He’s never been off the podium in four successive visits to the Spa 24.
And he hopes to carry the form into a double header at the circuit which saw the former Dundee High School pupil put his name on another British GT record book entry at the weekend.
Stunning pole performance
The latest round of British GT was the first bookend of Spa Speedweek.
Mitchell blitzed pole position in his Barwell Motorsport-prepared Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo with the fastest ever lap time for any British GT car around the spectacular Ardennes circuit.
He described his qualifying benchmark of 2min 16.984 seconds around the rollercoaster 4.35 mile Spa track as one of the best laps he’s ever delivered.
It gave the pairing of Mitchell and teammate Adam Balon a pole position from which Balon held the lead before their advantage was impacted by a safety car period.
And they had to serve a 15-second pitstop success penalty at the driver changeover following a second place finish last time out at Snetterton in Norfolk.
It saw the young Scot rejoin in sixth position, but he was in blistering form as he set about reeling in the cars ahead.
His reward for an audacious pass on a rival Porsche was fourth position and crucial points which closes the gap in the hunt to add a second British GT title to his 2020 crown.
“The weekend was all about damage limitation because we always knew we had the 15sec success penalty to serve at our pitstop,” said the British Racing Drivers’ Club member.
“Again we showed we have a blisteringly fast car,” Mitchell continued.
“My final lap in qualifying was one of the best laps I’ve ever done, and to be the quickest-ever British GT car round Spa is a real achievement.”
The result moves Mitchell and Balon into third in the championship, just half-a-point off second, with two races remaining and a total of 75 points available for the race winners.
Formidable Spa record
And he’s buzzing for the prospect of another spectacular 24 Hours race.
In 2018 he was second on a scintillating debut in the event with a second place – just two seconds behind the victor after twice-round-the-clock racing.
And he followed it up with class victories in 2019 and 2020, then a third place last year.
Spa 24 is renowned as the world’s biggest and toughest GT3 event.
“It’s an amazing event and so much can happen in the space of the 24 Hours but I’ve have a great record here and Barwell know how to prepare a car which can win,” he said.
He’ll be partnered in the hotly contested Gold Cup class by Alex McDowall, Sam de Haan and Ahmad Al Harthy.
