+ Result: Free Practice, Spa-Francorchamps
Phil Keen held off a challenge from 2 Seas Motorsport team-mate Maximilian Goetz and RAM Racing’s Raffaele Marciello to set the pace in a soaked first practice session at Spa-Francorchamps.
In GT4, Spa rookie Tom Holland made an impressive start to the weekend by putting the CWS Ginetta out front, overcoming the championship-leading Optimum Motorsport McLaren that had held on to top spot for much of the session.
Heavy rain during the morning meant some standing water had to be cleared from the circuit, but the session began on time, even if many of the runners chose not to risk much during the early stages. Indeed, by one-third distance only a 16 cars had ventured out to set a laptime, but as the rain slowly gave way, the pace increased.
Marciello set the first benchmark in the worst of the conditions, before Tom Gamble moved ahead in the Optimum McLaren he shares with Mark Radcliffe. Sandy Mitchell then took a turn at the head of the times in the championship-leading Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini, before Goetz and Keen engaged in their intra-team battle. Goetz went ahead first before handing across to Kevin Tse, while Loggie relayed Keen and he then set two laps good enough to secure top spot.
Marciello went out for a second effort and was trimming the gap to Keen with a series of personal best sectors when the red flags were called for a car stranded out on track. With only a few minutes remaining, the session did not resume.
Tse/Goetz were third ahead of Adam Smalley and Shaun Balfe’s Garage 59 McLaren and Mike Price and Calum Macleod in the Greystone GT Mercedes-AMG. Sacha Kakad and Hugo Cook rounded out the top six in the J&S Racing Audi R8.
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For much of the session it looked like Optimum Motorsport’s championship-chasing McLaren pair of Zac Meakin and Jack Brown would be secure in GT4, especially when Meakin improved six times to lead the entire first half in the rain. Brown then lowered the benchmark even further, but a superb effort from Tom Holland – who only drove at Spa for the first time in Friday testing – inside the last 15 minutes edged the Ginetta ahead before he handed to Colin White just before the red flag.
Charlie Robertson took over the #71 Century BMW M4 from Ravi Ramyead and also managed to sneak past the Optimum McLaren by 0.02s. Meakin and Brown remained third, ahead of Stuart Middleton and Freddie Tomlinson’s DTO Ginetta and the Forsetti Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage shared by Jamie Day and Mikey Porter. Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang duo Marco Signoretti and Erik Evans capped the top six runners.
Pre-Qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps is scheduled to start at 11:40 local time.