+ Result: Pre-Qualifying, Spa-Francorchamps
He may not have driven many laps across Pre-Qualifying at Spa, but Marvin Kirchhöfer made his very last one count by sneaking the #77 Optimum McLaren to the top of the times as the chequered flag dropped.
The late shuffle was enough to hand Optimum a double top, with the team’s McLaren Artura of Marc Warren and Jack Brown leading the way in the tightly packed GT4 contest.
It looked for much of the 55-minute session like Marcus Clutton was set to continue his strong form from Free Practice, with the Orange Racing McLaren out front throughout the middle stages. But Kirchhöfer, who had given much of the session across to team-mate Morgan Tillbrook, buckled in for one final run and edged ahead just as the flag dropped.
Matt Griffin was the star of the early stages aboard the Spirit of Race Ferrari, the Irishman coming out on top of a multi-car battle over top spot. At one point he was 1.3s clear of anybody, but then Tom Wood eroded that to 0.09s in the Beechdean AMR Aston Martin, before finally working his way past to lead. That wouldn’t last, however, as first Sam Neary found track space to briefly depose him in Team Abba’s Mercedes-AMG, before Clutton made his move. With the Orange car 0.2s clear and time almost up, things appeared settled before Kirchhöfer trimmed another 0.2s off to settle the contest.
Clutton/Simon Orange were second ahead of the Nearys, with Hugo Cook and Rob Collard bringing their Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini up to fourth. Wood/Andrew Howard were fifth as Griffin/Duncan Cameron rounded out a top six covered by 0.8s.
Things were more stable in GT4, with Brown making a mid-session break aboard the #90 Optimum Artura to leave his rivals chasing.
Charlie Robertson took control early on in Century’s #71 BMW, setting two laps good enough to lead Brown’s team-mate Marc Warren and former Spa lap record holder Seb Morris in the Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG. Brown took over soon after and improved to sit 0.2s clear of anybody, setting a time that would not be beaten.
Robertson and Ravi Ramyead held second ahead of the impressive #84 Mahiki Racing Ginetta of Jack Mitchell and Josh Miller. Harry George and Luca Hopkinson were right behind in their Optimum McLaren, with Steven Lake/Blake Angliss (Mahiki Ginetta) and Morris/Ed McDermott rounding out the top six.
Qualifying is scheduled for 18:35 this evening and will be live on the GT World YouTube channel.