The prospect of speeding round the Brands Hatch track at 150mph is terrifying for most but for Gordie Mutch, it’s where he’s in his element.
This weekend, the final races of the 2024 British GT Championship will take place and with Mutch sitting in fourth place in the pro-am standings alongside his amateur co-driver, Ian Duggan, the pair are looking to, at the very least, consolidate their standing.
This season has seen Mutch, who races an Lotus Emira GT4 for Mahiki Racing, rack up several notable results, the most eye-catching of which was his win at Silverstone in April.
His success in 2024 is quite the contrast from last season, after which the 22-year-old from Lockerbie admits he even considered giving up the sport he’s spent his life immersed in.
“So at the end of last season, I did wonder if my career was over. I’d had the best year of my career in 2022 so to go from that to the lows of last year was tough. It was a rough time because I couldn’t find a route back in and I lost some love for the sport.
“I had contemplated my career being over but I kept fighting and thankfully, it paid off.”
Mutch is looking for a strong finish to his season this weekend at Brands Hatch and he admits that, as the professional in the driving partnership alongside Duggan, he spends as much energy supporting his amateur co-driver as he does driving himself.
“Brands Hatch is an awesome circuit, it’s really old-school and very fast with not much room for error but these kind of tracks suit me,” he says.
"The amateurs often dictate where you finish in the race so as the pro, you just do the best you can and support your amateur as well as you can.
“This year was always going to be a learning year in what is a new car but we’ve been pretty successful and we’ve picked up some very good results.”
On the surface, e-sports may seem worlds apart from real-life racing but in fact, Mutch insists e-sports is becoming an integral tool for drivers who are looking to improve.
“E-racing keeps you really sharp and it’s so tough to do well because there’s so much depth of talent,” he says.
“I’m super-competitive, that’s why I went into e-sports and I actually think doing e-sports is vital to your success in real life racing.
“The tracks are laser-scanned so in e-sports, the circuits are exact replicas of the real circuits so it’s very valuable.
“My priority will always be motorsport but when I can, I’ll do e-sports as much as possible.”
The 2024 season may not yet be over but already, Mutch has one eye on next season.
He will remain with Lotus and with the team management confident he can play a vital part in the team’s future success, Mutch is optimistic he can build on this season’s performances in 2025.
“As a team, we want to be winning British GT and the team believe I’m an integral cog in that,” he says.
“So I should be back next year and then we’ll see what happens. It’s nice that other people believe in me because I’ve always had faith in myself so it’s great to see other people have confidence in my talent and my work ethic too."
