+ Kirchhöfer and Miller top the times on Day 1
+ Results: Testing
Marvin Kirchhöfer and Aiden Neate were both on record pace ahead of this year’s Silverstone 500 as two official test sessions kicked off Round 2 of the British GT Championship this afternoon.
The vast majority of fastest times were set in the second hour-long session when Optimum’s McLaren circulated in 1m58.086s to beat Team Parker’s Sven Müller by just 0.01s.
That time was a little over two tenths faster than the existing lap record, which Kirchhöfer also set at the wheel of a 720S back in 2022.
Hugo Cook bagged quickest time in the opening test and it remained rapid enough for third fastest of all across the day. He’s joined for the first time in Barwell’s #1 Lamborghini by Rob Collard whose title defence begins a round later than planned this weekend.
Fourth overall went to Blackthorn’s Aston Martin and Jonny Adam, while Sam Neary’s Mercedes-AMG made it as many different manufacturers in the top five. Half a second covered the quintet.
Fastest Silver-Am time went the way of Tom Wood and Beechdean AMR in eighth overall. Additional race-by-race entries have seen the class swell to seven cars at Silverstone.
Further back, Mahiki’s #84 Lotus was the pick of the GT4 entries. Aiden Neate topped the second session but had to give best to co-driver Josh Miller whose 2m08.775s in the first test topped Friday’s combined times. The lap was also more than a second under the event’s existing race record, set by Sennan Fielding in 2022, and less than a tenth shy of the qualifying benchmark.
Neate was actually second fastest of all on the day but it was Optimum’s McLaren driven by reigning champion and two-time defending 500 winner Jack Brown that finished P2 in the combined result. His and Marc Warren’s Artura failed to set a time in the first test after only registering four laps but rebounded to end up two tenths down on the Silver class Emira.
Mahiki’s Pro-Am Lotus shared by 2018 500 winner Jack Mitchell and Steven Lake completed the top three, while Century’s BMWs and Optimum’s other McLaren rounded out the first half dozen.
Saturday begins with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying before the grid for British GT’s blue riband three-hour race is set at 16:15. Watch it live on Sky Sports F1 and SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.
