Team Parker Racing’s Seb Morris topped opening practice for this weekend’s British GT Championship round at Spa-Francorchamps, which ended after just 25 minutes thanks to a heavy accident. Meanwhile, Ciaran Haggerty gave Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse bragging rights at the front of GT4.
An early red flag to remove track debris and subsequent permanent stoppage as a result of barrier damage meant very little running was achieved over the scheduled 50 minutes. Nevertheless, Morris - who also topped the 24 Hours of Spa group test earlier this week - found time to post a best lap of 2m20.141s aboard the #31 Bentley.
The first of Barwell Motorsport’s Lamborghinis, driven by Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen, was next up, albeit 0.4s adrift of Morris, while Alasdair McCaig and Rob Bell’s Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650S was the only other car to dip below the 2m21s mark.
AmDTuning.com’s BMW Z4 and second Barwell Huracan completed the top-five ahead of both GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghinis, which are making guest appearances in British GT this weekend.
But the biggest talking point from the session undoubtedly concerned TF Sport’s championship leading Aston Martin and the #24 Team Parker Racing Bentley, which both sustained heavy damage after spinning on oil and into the barriers approaching Les Combes. Both Derek Johnston and Callum Macleod were unharmed in the incident, although neither car will take part in qualifying later today.
The punctuated and curtailed session also restricted opportunities for the British GT4 contingent, although Haggerty still found time to post a 2m33.651s lap, some two seconds faster than the class’ existing lap record around Spa.
A gaggle of GT4 European Series entries filled positions second to eighth ahead of Nathan Freke and Anna Walewska’s Century Motorsport Ginetta GT4, which ended up 2.1s shy of Haggerty’s McLaren 570S.
James Holder and Matthew George’s Generation AMR SuperRacing Aston Martin made it three different GT4 manufacturers inside the top-three, while the Lanan Racing Ginetta and Team Parker Racing Porsche completed the top-five.
This afternoon’s second 50-minute session is scheduled to begin at 12:25.