Sant’Agata Bolognese/Donington Park, 17 October 2021 – Lamborghini clinched its second successive British GT Championship title courtesy of Barwell Motorsport’s Leo Machitski and Dennis Lind’s fourth place in the season-ending three-hour endurance race at Donington Park. The pair, driving the #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo, started sixth after a troublesome qualifying but scored enough points to beat the rival Mercedes car of Yelmer Buurman and Ian Loggie.
Coming into the weekend, Machitski and Lind carried with them a seemingly commanding 18.5-point advantage over the Mercedes but with 37.5 points on offer for a race win, and the English weather unpredictable, it was all to play for come the race.
The #63 had been on the pace early on in timed practice on Friday, with Machitski setting the second fastest time in FP1, and Lind going quickest in FP2. By qualifying though, it was the WPI Motorsport Huracán of Michael Igoe and Phil Keen which claimed pole position, topping each segment while Machitski and Lind toiled to sixth as the former spun at the Fogarty Esses.
Igoe led away from the rolling start as pre-race rain made conditions difficult to master. But the #18 Huracán lasted just four corners before Igoe spun out on the exit of the Old Hairpin. He later went off a second time at Coppice, all but extinguishing his and Keen’s title hopes.
That elevated Machitski to fifth ahead of the sister #1 Barwell Motorsport car of Adam Balon, which showed impressive pace in the early going. The #63 got back ahead of the #1 after the mandatory pit-stop thanks to Machitski and Lind not having to serve a success time penalty.
The closing stages were nervous times for the #63 car as the rival Mercedes got to within a second-and-a-half of the lead, with victory required. But the positions remained the same and Lind – who set his sixth fastest lap of the season – came home fourth to clinch his first, and Machitski’s second, British GT title.
Dennis Lind (#63 Barwell Motorsport): “It’s been a tough season to be honest, and the only place we had a DNF was at Donington earlier this year, but we turned it around very well. I’m super happy and super proud to share this title with Leo. I came into this season trying to re-establish myself, I’ve felt really comfortable at Barwell, and this season has been amazing, definitely one of the best I have had in the last five years.”
Leo Machitski (#63 Barwell Motorsport) said: “This feels good, really, really good. I have won the title before, but it was a class title, not an overall one. So, I always felt like there was some unfinished business in British GT. I have to say a big thanks to Barwell Motorsport, to Lamborghini and to Dennis for putting this title charge together. It’s been incredible!”
Barwell Motorsport team principal added: “It’s been a fantastic year for us, we’ve delivered six GT titles across British GT and in Europe with Lamborghini but today, a lot of it was out of our hands. But the team did a superb job and did what they needed to do, so we’re very happy with the title.”