BLACK BULL ECURIE ECOSSE young guns Sandy Mitchell and Ciaran Haggerty saw a dominant weekend shattered when their McLaren 570S GT4 ran out of fuel due to a pump failure. The pair were leading the British GT Championship at Spa-Francorchamps by more than 20-seconds at the time.

The duo, who were the star double act at the iconic Belgian Grand Prix circuit, had topped the GT4 timesheets throughout the two-days of racing.

While 19-year-old Haggerty was fastest in both opening free practice sessions, both he and 16-year-old Mitchell combined fastest times in qualifying to seal their second successive pole position.To rub further salt into the wound Mitchell, who drove the opening stint in the two-hour race, also clocked the fastest time for an Amateur in the race with a lap of 2mins 34.552secs.But having established a commanding 23s lead on lap 19, midway through the two-hour race, Mitchell’s charge to what should have been a maiden British GT victory for both he and Haggerty, ground to an agonising halt.“We ran out of fuel,” an understandably dejected Mitchell, from Forfar, admitted afterwards. ”On my in-lap, the car coughed, spluttered and stopped. There wasn’t enough fuel in it to let me restart the engine.”The problem was later traced to a failure of the car’s fuel pump.“Up until then, the car had been really quick,” Mitchell continued. “I got the fastest lap award. So we know we had the pace: I think I was about 20-odd seconds in the lead before the problems started.“From the position I was in, all we needed to do was bring it home. We had the pace and we’d done all the hard work over the weekend, started from pole and established a commanding lead.”And Mitchell confirmed he had asked the team if he could pit the previous lap because the car had indicated the failing pump was causing a lack of fuel.“Again we were so close, but couldn’t quite get there,” Mitchell said. “Another niggly wee electrical problem has hit us hard.”Haggerty, meanwhile, who didn’t even get to drive in the race, was left contemplating what might have been.“This weekend was tough,” the Johnstone driver admitted. “I was fastest in both free practice sessions, and in qualifying, and yet I didn’t manage to get into the car in the race when we were leading.“It’s unfortunate, but I suppose that’s motorsport for you.“I’m really happy with the way the weekend was going, and unfortunately in the race again it didn’t quite work out for us.“We definitely had the pace and I’m happy in the knowledge that the car’s quick, and both Sandy and I delivered over the whole race weekend. That’s all we can control.“It definitely looked like it was going to be a really good race for us, but again it just wasn’t to be.”

QUOTES:Sandy Mitchell — Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S GT4 driver“We ran out of fuel. On my in-lap, the car coughed, spluttered and stopped. There wasn’t enough fuel in it to let me restart the engine.“Up until then, the car had been really quick. I got the fastest lap award. So we know we had the pace: I think I was about 20-odd seconds in the lead before the problems started.“From the position I was in, all we needed to do was bring it home. We had the pace and we’d done all the hard work over the weekend, started from pole and established a commanding lead.“Again we were so close, but couldn’t quite get there. Another niggly wee electrical problem has hit us hard.”Ciaran Haggerty — Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S GT4 driver“This weekend was tough. I was fastest in both free practice sessions, and in qualifying, and yet I didn’t manage to get into the car in the race when we were leading.“It’s unfortunate, but I suppose that’s motorsport for you.“I’m really happy with the way the weekend was going, and unfortunately in the race again it didn’t quite work out for us.“We definitely had the pace and I’m happy in the knowledge that the car’s quick, and both Sandy and I delivered over the whole race weekend. That’s all we can control.“It definitely looked like it was going to be a really good race for us, but again it just wasn’t to be.”