Barwell Motorsport rounded out its maiden season of Pro GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS competition with a solid top-eight finish in class, despite an ultimately disappointing Sprint Cup finale at Valencia.
Hugo Cook and Sandy Mitchell put on a spirited drive on Sunday, after the pair were sidelined from Saturday’s race by unlucky contact that eliminated the #78 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 before the pack had even reached turn two of the Spanish circuit.
A hard-fought eighth place Pro class finish in the final race was some reward for the technical crew’s hard work in repairing the car overnight, and caps an otherwise impressive season for the eye-catching Dama Fortuna Premium Tequila/J&S Accessories-backed Huracan.
This season Barwell broke new ground with its first-ever entry into the headline Pro class, putting the Surrey team in direct competition with full factory teams and drivers. With established Lamborghini Squadra Corse ace Mitchell paired with Silver-graded rising star Hugo Cook, the first season in the top tier was always going to bring a learning curve.
Podium-challenging pace on home turf at Brands Hatch back in May set the tone for Mitchell and Cook, setting up a best finish of sixth at Zandvoort.
Since then, the pair have battled the odds, with the season finale at Valencia again proving a challenging weekend. The balance of performance rules brought a further restrictor change which sapped the Huracan’s straight-line speed and left both drivers up against it.
Despite showing potential with sixth and eighth-fastest laps in class across Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying respectively, there was nothing the duo could do to salvage Saturday, with their race over almost as soon as it had begun.
Mitchell qualified 10th in class and found himself smack-bang in the middle of the hulking 38-car field as the lights went out. While the Scot negotiated the rammed first turn well, a collision between two Audis to his right flank led to both spearing back across and smacking the innocent Huracan, breaking the right-rear suspension and causing Mitchell to skate helplessly off the track heading to turn two.
The damage proved too much to repair before the end of the race and would require a big effort overnight with a broken upright, suspension, steering rack as well as floor and diffuser damage.
With the car repaired for Sunday morning, Cook would climb behind the wheel completely cold, having not driven a lap since Friday. Regardless Cook attacked the 10-minute Qualifying session impressively, only for more bad luck to intervene. One of the first cars to venture out, Cook’s initial effort put the #78 second in class and things looked bright, however a stranded Ferrari led to the red flags flying as he was on for a better lap. With the peak of the tyre gone amid the delay, Cook would start 10th in class.
All eyes were set forward, but with overtaking chances limited on the tight 2.5-mile track, it would be a tough ask. Cook kept things clean when the lights went out and took his chances well, moving up two spots early on to chase the AF Corse Ferrari of Marcos Siebert. Cook piled the pressure on before boxing for Mitchell at the first opportunity. Some slick pit work and another 18-second tyre change helped Mitchell make up yet more places overall, with the #78 filtering back out in a tight fight with Thomas Fleming’s Garage 59 McLaren and Alessio Rovera in the factory #51 AF Corse Ferrari. After a touch-and-go fight, Mitchell took the flag eighth in the Pro class order to round out Barwell’s first season in the top tier.
It may not have been the headline result the team would have wanted, but there is no doubting Barwell has turned some heads this season, gaining huge experience and laying the foundations for 2026.
“Considering this was our first season competing in the Pro class, up against the best GT3 teams and drivers in the world, I couldn’t be more proud of this team. We’ve been up against it across the last few rounds with BoP and circumstances just not going our way, but nobody has ever let their head drop and we fought on to the final chequered flag of the season. Sandy’s a class act and a pleasure to work with, and Hugo has developed so much across the course of this year and is a real rising star. Both drivers have been superb all season and my only regret is they didn’t get the sort of result their efforts really deserved. But that’s motorsport, and success at this level is incredibly hard earned.
“I would like to extend our congratulations to Team WRT and drivers Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde on their championship success, they’ve been the benchmark for much of the season and deserve the plaudits. As for us, we have one more chance to fight for British GT success this season, and then the planning begins for a bigger and better 2026 season.”
