Forfar GT champ Mitchell re-writes record books at Spa

And the 22-year-old from Forfar maximised his pole position to close the gap further in the battle for the 2022 title.

Mitchell, partnered by Adam Balon in the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, blitzed the 4.35-mile Spa circuit to stop the clock in 2min 16.984s on his final run in an ultra-competitive qualifying – a new qualifying lap record for a British GT car.

Starting the two-hour race from pole position, Balon led for the opening 22 minutes before the race was impacted by the appearance of the Safety Car, bunching the field up and negating the lead advantage Mitchell had established.

With 30 minutes remaining Mitchell was tucked under the rear wing of the Porsche. But stout defending delayed the Lamborghini’s progress for around 15 minutes as Mitchell hounded the Porsche before he completed an audacious overtake, moving him up to fourth.

“Coming into this weekend it was all about damage limitation because we always knew we had the 15sec success penalty to serve at our pitstop,”said Mitchell.

“Adam did a brilliant job in qualifying and throughout his race stint. I couldn’t find a way past him for quite a few laps. We’re still in the battle for the championship and I didn’t want to risk any contact.

“Again we showed we have a blisteringly fast car. My final lap in qualifying was one of the best laps I’ve ever done, and to be the quickest-ever British GT car round Spa is a real achievement.”

The result moves Mitchell and Balon into third in the championship, just half-a-point off second, with two races remaining and a total of 75 points available for the race winners.

The next round of the British GT Championship is another two-hour race, this time at Brands Hatch in September, a race in which Mitchell and Balon will be penalty-free. Before that, Mitchell is back in action this weekend (July 30/31) when he bids for another class win in the gruelling Spa 24-Hours.