2024 GT Championship Review

The old saying goes that records exist to be broken. That was certainly the case in 2024, when Barwell Motorsport enjoyed a historic British GT Championship season during which the team shattered benchmark after benchmark. And Dextra Racing played a big part in the achievements.

At the end of a frantic 16 hours of racing across the nine rounds, Barwell’s twin Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2s stood out as the class of the field, with the team capturing both the GT3 Teams’ and Drivers’ titles.

Rob and Ricky Collard became only the second father-and-son pairing ever to win the championship outright aboard the #63 Huracan GT3 Evo2.

However, the sister #78 Dextra Commercial Lighting-supported Huracan shared by Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell was arguably the standout achiever on track, with the pair sharing three outright race wins – more than any other crew in the championship – plus a top points score in the season finale at Brands Hatch thanks to the winning car being a non-scoring guest entry.

The signs were good from the start of the season, with Barwell’s twin Lamborghinis arriving to the season opener at Oulton Park in very different shape to the previous year when the Evo2 spec car first featured. The technical team worked wonders to dig into the new car’s initial flaws and unlock additional performance, and the two Huracans proved the cars to beat from the very first moment the lights went out.

A sprint win apiece for the Collards and Martin/Mitchell at Oulton Park got the ball rolling. The one piece of major misfortune all season occurred at Silverstone when Martin’s #78 Lamborghini was eliminated from the race after being the innocent victim of a tangle, bringing about the crew’s sole non-score.

Martin & Mitchell bounced back in style by securing the team’s first endurance victory of the year during the three-hour event at Donington Park, dominating the race from pole despite having virtually every weather conditions thrown their way. The Collards stayed in touch in the championship with a fine podium at Spa-Francorchamps as maximum Pit Stop Compensation Time limited Martin & Mitchell to fourth.

Brands Hatch should have been simpler than it was for the Collards, but an engine issue on the #63 meant they missed both Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Saturday, with the Barwell technical crew working wonders to get the 5.2-litre V10 changed and running in time for Qualifying.

Martin & Mitchell knew they had to win the race to have any chance of overturning the sister car’s points lead, and that’s almost exactly what they did, finishing second on the road but taking home the maximum points score available. However, a fighting performance from Rob and Ricky helped the #63 to fifth at the flag, ensuring they would take the honours by just five points. To sum up the team’s dominance, third place in the Drivers’ Championship finished 37 points behind Martin & Mitchell, almost the equivalent of a full endurance race win.

With a title double and a host of new records already in the bag, the 2024 British GT Championship season stands as one to remember for Barwell Motorsport, its drivers and all supporting partners.