Silverstone 500: Barwell's Margin Call

British GT’s reigning GT3 champions, Barwell Motorsport finally saw its 2022 season sparked into life with a hard-earned victory at Silverstone last weekend for Adam Balon & Sandy Mitchell.

After 3 hours of intense competition across the magnificent Grand Prix circuit, the bright green Huracan crossed the line just half a second ahead of the pursuing Garage 59 McLaren of Alexander West & Marvin Kirchhoefer. It was a thrilling end to a scarring race that saw a Mercedes-melee on the opening lap; James Cottingham in the 2 Seas car and Richard Neary’s Team Abba racer coming together whilst fighting over third, then collecting title favourite Ian Loggie who was forced into a lengthy pitstop for repairs.

With Cottingham out, Neary penalised, and Loggie frustrated in the pits, Balon and the Redline Lamborghini of Alex Malykhin & James Dorlin were straight into a comfortable lead … or so it seemed, but a good run out of Stowe tempted Malykhin into an ambitious lunge at Vale where contact was made and a subsequent stop-go penalty incurred. Though Dorlin was able to return the car back up the order, it was down to a trio of chasing McLarens to keep Barwell pressured.

Most likely in the early stages looked to be the Enduro Motorsport car of Morgan Tillbrook & Marcus Clutton; Tillbrook scything his way towards the front, only for his pro-partner to accidentally set-off the fire extinguisher, leaving the 720S motionless after a stop. West & Kirchhoefer, meanwhile, were showing ever faster pace whilst the Optimum car of Nick Moss & Joe Osborne had settled into a rhythm that saw them hold station in third.

But for the speed shown by the McLarens, Barwell countered with brilliantly timed stops, allowing Mitchell to once again prove his class by managing traffic, staying in front and coaxing his blisteringly hot tyres to the end where he edged Kirchhoefer by the narrowest of margins.

In GT4, it was a very different story.

The promise of multiple challenges for the lead soon evaporated in the haze as the Audi of pole sitters Steller Motorsport was hit from behind in the early stages, whilst Will Burns in the Century Motorsport BMW clashed with the Academy Mustang, incurring the reigning champion a post-race penalty, leaving Matt Cowley to regain the advantage. But for the second year in succession, it was the Pro-Am Newbridge Aston Martin of Matt Topham & Darren Turner that delivered a flawless performance to head the Silvers, winning by a healthy margin despite handling issues.

The Valluga Porsche of Ross Wylie & Matty Graham looked solid in P2 (winning the Silver class) and also in Silver, Richard Williams & Sennan Fielding continued their title push with a strong recovery drive to P3 (P2 in class).

Here’s a selection of our favourite images from this perennial blue riband event:

• All images in this article are by Howard Fielding, Pete Walker and Steve Hindle