Fulbeck racing driver Balfe contests final round of British GT Championship in the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT 3 at Brands Hatch

Fulbeck racing driver Shaun Balfe and Barwell Motorsport team-mate Sandy Mitchell were on the pace from the start of their weekend at Brands Hatch, in the penultimate round of the British GT Championship.

With third in the Championship still the target for the crew, Balfe was first out in the team’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3, setting fourth best qualifying time on Saturday.

Balfe said: “It’s been a while since we raced at Portimao, but our car was still well suited to the Brands Grand Prix Circuit, so not many changes to make.

“My sector times showed I was about two tenths off my best, but it was a decent session, and then Sandy drove well.”

With Mitchell setting the third best time in his session, their aggregate lap gave them third on the grid for Sunday’s two-hour race.

With the race starting at 1.20pm, the heat of the day was at its maximum, making it a tough start to the race.

Balfe quickly slotted into second place from the start, behind Championship leader James Cottingham’s Mercedes.

There had been spinners and contact behind the leaders, but as Cottingham began to extend his lead, Balfe had Darren Leung’s BMW close enough to be a threat.

“We got a good start, easier than I was expecting as I thought the BMW and Aston Martin would be closer,” Balfe said.

By lap five the lead trio were evenly spread, with Balfe still in second and 2.253sec off the lead. But as they started to lap the slower GT4 cars, Balfe was not only able to consolidate second, but had closed the gap on the leader to just 0.360sec.

Balfe added: “Cottingham was losing out to backmarkers, but it was still hard to close.” Balfe added.

The gaps continued to open and close, but with Leung under pressure from Andrew Howard’s Aston Martin for second, Balfe was able to focus on his gap to the leader.

Thirty minutes into the race and the gap was up to 4.492sec, but another six laps and the safety car was out for the first time, going green again four laps later.

Only five more laps and the safety car was out again for another two laps, seeing Balfe’s cushion over third place eroded considerably as the end of his stint approached.

“I got a left-hand rear puncture too which unsettled me near the end of my stint, but the safety car helped that with us taking the loading off the tyre as we slowed,” Balfe explained.

After 40 laps it was time to stop, heading for the pit lane to hand to Mitchell, but having lost around six seconds to the third placed crew. “The safety car helped in some ways but ruined our strategy,” Balfe added.

There was also an extra 10 seconds success penalty to spend in the pit lane before Mitchell rejoined in ninth. But he was soon challenging for the top six again.

With 25 minutes left on the clock, he was on the back of a four-car train for third, finally securing fifth place a lap from home when Callum Macleod’s Mercedes ran out of fuel.