Reigning champions Barwell Motorsports have announced their two car lineup for the 2021 Intelligent Money British GT Championship with Champion Sandy Mitchell returning to team up with Adam Balon.
Barwell’s second Lamborghini Hurracan GT3 sees the return of another British GT title winner as longtime Barwell stalwart, and 2006 Champion Leo Machitski, will pair up with Lamborghini works driver Dennis Lind.
With the outlawing of the Silver class for the 2021 season has meant that the championship winning Silver pairing of Mitchell and Rob Collard has been broken up and instead the team will fields two new Pro-Am entries.
Both cars will also feature special race numbers: Balon’s usual #72 is replaced with #1 in recognition of Mitchell’s title, while Machitski/Lind will use Lamborghini’s famous #63 – just as the factory cars do around the world.
“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.
“Next season will be my fourth with Barwell, everyone in the team works hugely hard, and I have no doubt we’ll be fighting at the front of the field again in 2021.”
Machitski, meanwhile, returns full-time to the series he won with Barwell in 2006 after making several outings in recent years.
The Russian has been a constant feature of Barwell’s successful European exploits, as he went on to win the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Am Cup crown in 2018 and ’19 before also claiming Pro-Am class honours at this year’s Total 24 Hours of Spa with Barwell and Lamborghini.
The lineup is completed by Lamborghini works driver Lind who previously made several British GT appearances with fellow Lamborghini squad, WPI Motorsport.
The Dane is no stranger to Barwell though as he was part of its 2019 Barcelona 24 Hours-winning crew (alongside Machitski) before also racing at the Dubai 24 Hours earlier this year.
Team principal Mark Lemmer added: “I’m delighted with the line-ups we’ve been able to put together, which should give us the best chance possible to defend our coveted BGT titles.
“With Adam, Sandy, Leo and Dennis we have a fantastic blend of speed, youth and experience!”
Barwell’s 2021 testing programme begins at Barcelona and Portimao in February ahead of Oulton Park’s British GT season opener on April 3 & 5.
