Lind returns to Barwell lineup to defend British GT title in 2022

Lind and Machitski will be joined in the Lamborghini team by Sandy Mitchell and Adam Balon, who finished third in points with three second places in 2021.

Cut from the Lamborghini factory roster in 2020, Lind contemplated retiring from motorsport before agreeing a deal with Barwell for 2021. He formed a well-balanced pairing with Machitski and took a season-high haul of six fastest laps from the nine races en-route to the title.

PLUS: The consistency that brought Barwell back-to-back British GT glory

This led to opportunities for Lind in Europe with Audi customer teams WRT and Sainteloc, including an invitational outing in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup finale in Ingolstadt's latest evolution of the R8 LMS GT3.

The Dane left the door open to remaining in British GT while exploring options for a full season programme in Europe, and has now signed a deal with German-based McLaren squad JP Motorsport to contest GTWCE Endurance alongside Christian Klien and Vincent Abril.

As the two SRO-run series do not clash, Lind is free to continue alongside Machitski, who confirmed to Autosport at the Donington finale that he was intent on defending his crown.

"Dennis has attracted a lot of interest for what he achieved this season so I'm delighted that his other commitments won't prevent him from sharing the #1 car with me in British GT," Machitski said.

"We worked really well together this year and I see no reason why we shouldn't go into 2022 expecting to be contenders again."

 

While their team-mates took the most dominant victory of the year at Spa and also scored maximum points for second behind RAM's guesting Mercedes at Oulton Park, Mitchell and Balon's only maximum score came at Silverstone after Mitchell's final lap pass on Lind for second, behind the winning 2Seas Mercedes that was also ineligible to score.

After a non-score in the first round at Brands Hatch, where Balon was blamelessly turfed into the Paddock Hill Bend gravel, the 2021 campaign turned into a game of catchup that they could never recover from.

Determined to avoid a similar fate in 2022, Balon is targeting a strong start to the campaign.

"Sandy drove as well as anyone all season long and I feel a more complete driver now than at any stage of my career," said Balon.

"We just need to hit the ground running and maintain that momentum against what I’m hearing will be a seriously competitive GT3 entry.”

Four Lamborghini GT3 entries have been confirmed so far for 2022.

WPI Motorsport will continue with an unchanged lineup of Phil Keen and Michael Igoe, the only double winners of 2021, while Porsche Carrera Cup GB specialist Redline Racing will enter series returnee James Dorlin and Porsche Sprint Challenge GB graduate Alex Malykhin.