+ Result, Free Practice, Donington Park
Callum Macleod and Mike Price set the pace during opening practice at Donington Park this morning, with the pair’s Greystone GT Mercedes-AMG taking full advantage of a slim window for slicks.
Xentek Motorsport pulled the same trick to make a flying start to life in British GT, its Porsche 718 Cayman RS CS shared by Bal Sidhu and Josh Steed leading the way in GT4.
The vast majority of the first hour-long session took place under grey skies and light drizzle, leading to a slow start as many teams waited for conditions to settle before venturing out. Ricky Collard was the keenest to get going, getting to the front of the queue and duly setting the early pace in Barwell’s #63 Lamborghini before Sandy Mitchell deposed him in the sister Huracan. Ricky then fought back and managed to put the championship-leading Lambo 1.7s clear at one point before the track began to improve, presenting some cars the chance to bolt on slick tyres.
Adam Smalley was the first to make an impact, going fastest on dry rubber in the Garage 59 McLaren he shares with Shaun Balfe. Marcus Clutton then made it a one-two by sneaking the sister car he shares with Morgan Tillbrook ahead, before Macleod ventured out on slicks and cut a further 0.2s off the best time, right before the drizzle returned to deny any further improvement.
Tom Gamble made it three McLarens in the top four by putting Optimum’s car fourth fastest, ahead of Rob and Ricky Collard in fifth. Lewis Plato and Carl Cavers rounded out the top six in Century’s BMW.
It was a similar story in GT4 where, having missed Thursday testing, Xentek Motorsport’s Porsche snatched the top time with its own timely slick run.
Phil Quaife marked his return to British GT action by immediately setting the pace in the guesting #30 Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG, however he was quickly deposed by both Forsetti Aston Martins, with first Mikey Porter and then Marc Warren taking over top spot.
Jack Brown then went faster in the championship-leading Optimum McLaren before the crossover to slicks arrived and a well-timed run from Steed put the Porsche 0.2s up on Brown’s team-mate Zac Meakin. Callum Davies and Sai Sanjay were third for RACELAB with Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson’s Century BMW fourth. Warren and Will Orton’s Aston was fifth, with Ed McDermott and Matt Cowley completing the top six in Paddock Motorsport’s Mercedes-AMG.
Pre-Qualifying is scheduled to take place at 12:20.