+ Result: Pre-Qualifying, Spa-Francorchamps
A well-timed run in the best of the changing conditions netted the fastest Pre-Qualifying time for Rob Collard and the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini team at Spa-Francorchamps, with the sessions run at record pace… eventually.
Mahiki Racing may have sustained damage to its #69 Lotus Emira in the opening session of the day, but Gordie Mutch and Ian Duggan showed the promise of the machine by topping the GT4 order in the sister car.
With the morning rain long gone, the session featured conditions that changed almost lap-by-lap the circuit transitioned from full wet to dry, meaning the vast majority of final improvements came from those who bolted slick Pirelis on at the right moments.
Nobody timed it better than the Collards, as Ricky stopped to relay Rob, Barwell bolted on dry rubber and Rob duly set a stonking time – some 0.8s beneath the race lap record – to put the car half-a-second clear before the session was red flagged with a few minutes to go.
Oli Webb (Greystone GT McLaren), Tom Roche (Orange Racing by JMH McLaren), Callum Macleod (Greystone GT Mercedes-AMG) and Maximilian Goetz (2 Seas Mercedes-AMG) rotated the top time during the wetter first half, before the potential for slicks was proven by Giacomo Petrobelli in the #87 Blackthorn Aston Martin. That prompted many teams to wait for the crossover to fully arrive, and then first Webb and then Hugo Cook (J&S Racing Audi) went fastest before Collard’s definitive effort.
Cook and Kakad retained second from Webb and Andrey Borodin, while championship leaders Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell rose to fourth in the second Barwell Lamborghini. Macleod and Mike Price were fifth and top Mercedes-AMG, ahead of Roche and Simon Orange.
It was a similar story in GT4, with many crews waiting to show their hand in the best of the conditions, but the Lotus was in the mix throughout.
Will Orton set the early pace before Mutch first went top in the Emira. Freddie Tomlinson then took a turn out front in the DTO Ginetta before Mutch mastered the best of the conditions to put his own record-pace effort in, his 2:30.083s over a second beneath the class record.
Jack Brown and Zac Meakin were just 0.03s behind in their Optimum McLaren, with Tomlinson and Stuart Middleton third for DTO. Alex Walker and British GT returnee Adam Hatfield were fourth in Paddock Motorsport’s McLaren Artura, ahead of both Callum Davids/Sai Sanjay’s RACE LAB version and Matt Nicoll-Jones/Will Moore in the fastest of the Academy Ford Mustangs.
Qualifying is set to take place at 16:40 local time.