Gracie Mitchell maintains her podium record on return to Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain
Gracie Mitchell enjoyed a successful return to Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain as the Graves Motorsport driver secured a trio of runner-up finishes in the CS class at Croft.
Gracie Mitchell enjoyed a successful return to Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain as the Graves Motorsport driver secured a trio of runner-up finishes in the CS class at Croft.
Returning to Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain after missing the previous round at Knockhill, Mitchell was looking to hit the ground running at Croft. The Graves Motorsport driver held a 100% podium record after the races at both Donington Park and Oulton Park, with Mitchell once again looking to challenge CS class championship leader Gabe Fairbrother.
Mitchell’s speed over both one-lap and a full race distance have been impressive in 2026, together with her strong adaptation to changeable weather conditions. Although she skipped the in-season test at Croft in June, Mitchell was aiming to draw upon prior experiences to make a fast start to the weekend.
Two free practice sessions took place on Friday and despite an extended period out of the car, Mitchell was immediately on the pace. Leading the way in the morning session, the Graves Motorsport driver topped the CS class standings ahead of teammate Fairbrother by half a tenth of a second. Improving by over one second in free practice two to a 1:26.563, Mitchell ended the day in second position in the CS class.
Saturday’s action began with qualifying and was disrupted by two separate red flag periods. Mitchell made a superb start to the session and briefly held provisional pole in the CS class. The Graves Motorsport driver was set to improve further when the first red flag was displayed following two personal best sectors. Nonetheless, Mitchell improved by over two seconds from free practice to set a quickest lap of a 1:24.413 which placed her second within the CS class behind teammate Fairbrother.
After a positive qualifying session, Mitchell was looking to continue this momentum during the first race of the weekend on Saturday afternoon. The grid positions were based upon the results from qualifying and therefore Mitchell lined up from second place within the CS class.
The Graves Motorsport driver made a good start as she held her runner-up position in the CS class, while both Mitchell and Fairbrother overtook the RS Am class machine of Richard Hosking. Mitchell’s speed in the early stages of the race was extremely competitive as she continued to apply pressure to Fairbrother.
On lap four, the recovering Hosking made his way through and although this briefly delayed Mitchell, Fairbrother was then equally compromised. With Hosking now ahead of both drivers, Mitchell closed back in to around one second as she targeted the top step of the podium.
The two CS class leaders were now trading quick times at the head of the field and following a superb lap of a 1:24.383, Mitchell missed the fastest lap of the race by two hundredths of a second. Nonetheless, the Graves Motorsport driver had set a time faster than her qualifying benchmark to underline her continued progress.
As the race moved in the second half, Fairbrother began edging away with Mitchell remaining consistent in second place. It was a strong run to the chequered flag for Mitchell who maintained her 100% podium record by crossing the line in second position within the CS class.
Race two of the weekend took place later on Saturday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the second fastest times from qualifying, Mitchell lined up from second in the CS class. It was a more challenging start for the Graves Motorsport driver this time around as Mitchell initially fell behind Giancarlo Romano.
Fighting back during the second half of lap one, Mitchell drew level with Romano to start lap two and successfully completed the pass into Clervaux. From there, Mitchell quickly built up a margin to Romano behind and she was now focusing on bridging the gap to class leader Fairbrother.
Although her teammate was slowly pulling away in the early stages, Mitchell fought back during the middle portion of the race. After lapping faster than Fairbrother on lap seven, Mitchell cut into her teammate’s lead by half a second on lap eight. This led to a particularly strong portion of the race for Mitchell who then began trading sector times with Fairbrother.
As the tyres began to wear in the closing stages, Fairbrother gained the upper hand while Mitchell continued to pull clear of Romano. Therefore, Mitchell secured her second runner-up finish of the day with a confident drive which saw the Graves Motorsport racer once again stepping onto the podium.
The final race at Croft took place on Sunday afternoon and with the grid positions based upon the results from race two, Mitchell lined up from second within the CS class. After earlier rain, the track was damp in some places however all drivers fitted the slick tyres.
As the lights went out, Mitchell got a good start as she held second position in the CS class while immediately applying pressure to teammate Fairbrother. Her speed through the high-speed middle sector was particularly strong on cold tyres as she remained in contention for the class lead.
Completing lap one in second position within the CS class, Mitchell was aiming to end her weekend on a high. Running just a second behind Fairbrother in the opening stages, Mitchell was aiming to force her teammate into a mistake while he looked to complete a weekend sweep.
Fairbrother began to extend his margin as the tyres came up to temperature with Mitchell settling into a consistent pace in the 1:26 range. Her speed through the technical final sector was especially strong as she looked for a safety car period in order to mount one final challenge on Fairbrother.
A clean weekend in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain ended with no interruptions across the trio of races with Mitchell securing her third runner-up result of the event. It was another successful outing for Mitchell in the competitive one-make championship with her speed in qualifying a particular highlight.
The Graves Motorsport driver will now be aiming to return to the top step of the podium at Silverstone on the weekend of 26th/27th September.
