+ Result: Free Practice, Donington Park
Marvin Kirchhöfer’s early effort helped Optimum Motorsport set the pace in opening practice at Donington Park, with the McLaren factory driver nudging close to the race lap record on his first attempt.
Likewise, Seb Morris made an instant impact on his GT4 return, instantly bettering the class lap record on just his second lap in the #12 Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG.
Kirchhöfer wasted little time when the session began, hitting the front aboard the #77 McLaren with a 1:25.107s effort on just his third lap before handing across to team-mate Morgan Tillbrook to gain mileage for the majority of the session.
Kirchhöfer’s time put the car 0.3s clear of his pursuers, and a largely sedate session meant it took until the final quarter for others to make an impression on the gap. The #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini shared by Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell – which was a race-winner here last season – lost a chunk of time early on with a brake disc issue. Barwell got the problem fixed and Mitchell was able to charge over the final stages, getting to within 0.050s of Kirchhöfer’s benchmark.
Callum Macleod was another late mover, bringing the #3 Optimum McLaren he shares with Mike Price into the top three with his final attempt. The second Barwell Huracan shared by Matt Topham and Hugo Cook was fourth fastest, as Nick Jones and Sven Müller rounded out the top five aboard the Team Parker Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. Just 0.6s separated the top 10 runners, with only 1.2s covering the entire GT3 entry.
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Much like Kirchhöfer, Morris enjoyed a dominant start to the weekend, dipping into the 1:32s bracket right at the start of the session before switching with Ed McDermott. That time would not be beaten for the remainder of the session, with Morris’s benchmark shaving some 0.4s off the race lap record on the new Pirelli DHG tyres.
Former GT4 champion Jack Mitchell did the best job of closing the gap, putting the Mahiki Racing Lotus Emira he shares with Steven Lake second, 0.2s off top. Aiden Neate and Josh Miller made it a Mahiki 2-3 in the sister Emira, just ahead of John Currie and Phil Keen’s Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG. Defending champion Jack Brown and new team-mate Marc Warren rounded out the top five.
Pre-Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 12:15.