+ Result: Pre-Qualifying, Donington Park
Tom Gamble’s best effort helped Optimum Motorsport’s McLaren to the head of the Pre-Qualifying times at Donington Park, with the session being cut 15 minutes short by a red flag.
The Mahiki Racing Lotus showed its potential in mixed conditions with Steven Lake and Nathan Harrison’s Emira emerging from a tight GT4 battle to lead the way.
Gamble’s mid-session flier put the McLaren he shares with Mark Radcliffe ahead of a tight fight at the head of the pack, before further improvements were ruled out when the red flags flew following a crash for the Team Abba Racing Mercedes-AMG.
The session went green under persistent drizzle and, unlike in Free Practice, this time there would be no chance for slicks, with wet-weather Pirellis the standard across the grid.
Marcus Clutton again came out of the blocks quickly to set the first representative effort in his Garage 59 McLaren, but he was shuffled back by Rob Collard’s Barwell Lamborghini, Gamble and then Sandy Mitchell in the second Huracan as the four cars traded the top time across the opening half.
Gamble’s best was enough to put the McLaren a few tenths clear of the Collards’ Lambo, before Rob trimmed the gap down to 0.053s and looked set to take more out of the margin before running was halted when Richard Neary crashed at The Old Hairpin and the resulting barrier damage meant the session could not be resumed.
Mitchell and Alex Martin were third, while the Abba Mercedes-AMG held fourth thanks to a strong effort from Sam Neary. Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam were fifth in their Blackthorn Aston Martin while Ian Loggie and Phil Keen brought their new 2 Seas Motorsport Porsche into the top six.
Given the conditions it was quite apt that Lake’s Lotus topped the GT4 field, even if its best time was set by the less conveniently named Harrison.
The Mahiki Racing Lotus hit the front midway through the session, with Harrison managing to pull a quarter of a second ahead of Seb Morris/Charles Dawson in the Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG before handing to Lake just before the stoppage.
Morris had earlier exchanged the fastest time with Steller Motorsport’s Jordan Albert, Matt Cowley in the Paddock Mercedes-AMG and Mikey Porter’s Forsetti Aston. Morris’s best kept the car second, with Albert and Tim Docker’s Audi third and Ian Duggan/Gordie Mutch fourth in the second Mahiki Emira. Porter and Jamie Day were fifth for Forsetti, with championship leaders Jack Brown and Zac Meakin sixth in their Optimum McLaren.
Qualifying is scheduled to begin at 16:15.