Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘We’ll be back next year ready to win’: Angus ace Mitchell cruelly denied fifth successive podium at Spa 24 Hours

The No. 77 Black Bull Lamborghini was fighting back before its Spa 24 Hours came to a halt. Supplied by McMedia.
The No. 77 Black Bull Lamborghini was fighting back before its Spa 24 Hours came to a halt. Supplied by McMedia.

Angus racer Sandy Mitchell has vowed to be back on the top step of the world’s toughest GT3 race after fate dealt a hammer blow to his hopes of a fifth successive Spa 24 Hours podium.

The Forfar 22-year-old dazzled in the darkness of the iconic Spa-Francorchamps home of the Belgian Grand Prix to storm to Gold Cup pole position.

Lamborghini factory driver Mitchell was the star performer in the Barwell Motorsport-prepared Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo alongside England’s Alex MacDowall and Sam De Haan, plus Oman racer Ahmad Al Harthy.

Incident-packed 24 hours

But their No. 77 machine endured a torrid time in a race of high attrition.

However, they were fighting back into podium contention as dawn broke over the 4.3-mile Ardennes forest circuit on Sunday morning.

Then, with around nine hours remaining, the Lamborghini suffered a rare mechanical failure which halted the charge of the Black Bull Whisky-backed machine.

Sandy Mitchell Spa
Sandy Mitchell reflects on the Spa outcome. Supplied by McMedia.

Mitchell though was far from downhearted after the retirement.

“Everyone in the Barwell team, and all the drivers, put in a stellar performance both in the build-up and throughout the 24-hour race,” he said.

“We showed again just what a fast package we have.

“It’s just unfortunate that for the first time in five years the car suffered an unknown mechanical failure.

“But we’ll be back again next year ready to fight for the win.”

Around a third of the field failed to make it to the chequered flag in front of a crowd of nearly 75,000 race fans.

Remarkable Spa record

The former Dundee High School pupil came within two seconds of a winning debut in 2018, before going on to win the Silver Cup class there in 2019 and 2020.

Sandy Mitchell Spa 2019 win
Sandy Mitchell (right) celebrates victory on the Spa podium in 2019.

He was third in the Pro-Am category last year, and started the race for the team from the Gold Cup pole position and 29th overall on the 66-car grid.

Within half an hour the 2020 British GT champion had stretched his advantage over Gold Cup rivals but suffered the first of the car’s three punctures in the race.

“We don’t know specifically what caused them, but this year a lot of cars in the field suffered a number of punctures,” he said.

It dropped the car to last place, but in the Spa darkness a series of scintillating stints brought the No. 77 back up the field.

Massive fightback

“We knew we could get ourselves back into Gold Cup contention, and ideally the top 20 overall,” said Mitchell.

“So we all just battered away clawing time back to the cars in front.

“It really was a massive commitment by everyone in the team,” he continued.

But with just over nine hours of the race remaining, and hunting down the third-placed Gold Cup car, the team was unfortunately forced to retire the Lamborghini.

“Of course it was hugely disappointing after all the effort everyone had put in, but sometimes motorsport just deals you a hand like that,” Mitchell reflected.

“It was one of these situations which was completely out of our control and there was nothing we could do.

“But we’ll come back next year ready to win.”

Mitchell is back in action for the penultimate round of the British GT Championship at Brands Hatch on September 10/11.

Conversation