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The 21-year-old, partnered by team-mate Adam Balon in the number one Lamborghini huracan GT3 evo, brought their car home in fifth place at the Leicestershire circuit, despite serving a 15-second success penalty.

Mitchell, the 2020 British GT champ, was quick to hail the crew of the sister number 63 car, driven by Dennis Lind and Leo Machitski, who lifted this year’s title.

“I have to give big congratulations to Dennis and Leo in the number 63 car and it’s fantastic that, for the second successive year, it’s a Lamborghini which has won the British GT Championship.

“Dennis and Leo have been great team-mates and super competitors throughout the season, so I’m happy to see them and the team win the championship.

In cool, wet and greasy autumnal conditions, Balon started car from fifth on the grid on wet tyres and had eased up to fourth, ahead of the number 63 when he handed over to Mitchell at the compulsory pitstop.

Rejoining the track in fifth after the extended stop, Mitchell found himself behind the 63 car which had been penalty-free at the pitstop. But immediately the Scot rattled off a series of fastest laps in the opening period after switching to slick Pirelli tyres, closing the gap from 3.4 seconds to just 0.7s.

But with the outcome of the championship on a knife-edge, Mitchell held position to ensure the 63 clinched the title.

“Adam and Leo both did really well to keep the cars on the black stuff when they were on wets, and then Dennis and I did the same when we switched to slicks,” Mitchell explained.

“There were a few corners which were still pretty slippy and I think probably most of us took a little trip across the grass at some stage.

“It was pretty intense. But my pace was really good in the mixed conditions when everyone went on to slicks on the damp, but slowly-drying track, and we started moving forward in the race.

“After that it was really a case of holding position behind the #63 car because of the championship permutations. And there wasn’t really too much for us to gain by passing Dennis. I had a Porsche behind me, but I was comfortably able to keep it at bay and hold my position.

“To get a top five finish in the race after serving a 15-second success penalty was a really positive result.”

Mitchell reflected on a season which started with his car being unceremoniously pitched into the gravel by another in the opening round at Brands Hatch.

“We started the first round stuck in the gravel through no fault of our own after contact from another car, which meant zero points in a race where the winner got 37.5 points in the overall championship,” Mitchell added. “We were 11th in the championship when we left Brands, but since then we’ve been chipping away at every race in the season getting higher and higher in the title race.

"In the second half of the season we’ve moved from sixth to fifth, then held fourth for quite a while and we’ve finally finished third, just 20 points off second and 29.5 off the championship winners.”