WRAPPING UP 2020

The postponement of SRO’s end-of-season awards ceremony meant several achievements weren’t officially recognised at the end of 2020.

Chief among them was British GT’s highest non-championship accolade, the Allan Simonsen Award, which is traditionally won by a driver with the same speed and spirit as epitomised by the late Dane who tragically lost his life at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2013.

2020’s winner is Barwell Motorsport’s Sandy Mitchell. The young Scot’s momentous campaign featured two victories and the GT3 title alongside Rob Collard, but it was his individual qualifying and race pace – evident despite carrying additional Silver Cup ballast – that sealed his status as 2020’s standout driver.

Mitchell joins Jonny Adam (x2), Nicki Thiim, Joe Osborne, Phil Keen, Alexander Sims and Nick Tandy as an Allan Simonsen Award winner.

The Sunoco Fastest Driver of the Year was also awarded in both classes. An incredible five fastest race laps from six weekends made Phil Keen (Barwell Motorsport) a clear GT3 winner, while Jamie Caroline (TF Sport) added the GT4 honour to his Drivers’ Championship.

Separately, the number of fans watching live British GT coverage grew dramatically in 2020. The 10 broadcasts streamed on Youtube (GT World and The Race channels) and Facebook (British GT) generated 1.3m views – a 61% increase over 2019 – while Sky Sports F1’s Silverstone 500 broadcast peaked at 85,000 viewers.