A late lap from Jonny Adam helped TF Sport finish fastest in first practice for this weekend’s crucial penultimate British GT rounds at Snetterton, while Generation AMR SuperRacing’s Matthew George comfortably paced the GT4 class.
Adam’s co-driver Derek Johnston had led at the hour-long session’s halfway mark before the Pro drivers took over late on. And it was the reigning champion’s 1m47.909s lap - already well inside his British GT lap record - that settled it in the championship-leading crew’s favour.
0.221s further back were the TF Sport pairing’s main title rivals, Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen, whose Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini finished third in class at the 24 Hours of Spa last weekend. They ended up almost half-a-second quicker than Alasdair McCaig and Rob Bell’s Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren, while the second Barwell Huracan of Liam Griffin and Alexander Sims completed the top-four just 0.037s further back.
Rick Parfitt Jnr and Seb Morris sit third in the GT3 standings, just 10.5 points behind Johnston and Adam, but were only fifth and 1.2s down on the Aston Martin in opening practice, ahead of the impressive Mike Simpson who battled illness to put the Tolman Motorsport Ginetta he shares with Ian Stinton just 0.013s behind the Team Parker Racing Bentley.
But there was bad news for the second G55 GT3 driven by local lad Luke Davenport who crashed out early without setting a competitive time.
Elsewhere, the Appleby Engineering-run Generation AMR SuperRacing Aston Martin of James Holder and Matthew George made a rapid start by comfortably topping first practice in the GT4 class. The latter was behind the wheel when the V8 Vantage set its 1m58.282s benchmark, a time two tenths quicker than the class’ all-time qualifying lap record at Snetterton.
No-one else came close to bettering George’s time, although championship leaders Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson will be content with heading a congested chasing pack. The PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport Ginetta finished almost seven tenths down on the ultimate time but 0.106s faster than Spa-Francorchamps race winners Joey Foster and Alex Reed aboard the Lanan Racing G55.
Jamie Chadwick became British GT’s youngest ever champion at Snetterton 12 months ago and began her return at the same venue by lapping just 0.030s shy of third in the Beechdean Aston Martin she shares with Paul Hollywood.
Macmillan Racing pairing Matthew Graham and Jack Mitchell made it three Astons in the top-five with a lap just half-a-tenth slower than Chadwick’s, while the returning Ade Barwick and Bradley Ellis completed the top-six.
Andrew Jarman underlined his pace by lapping just 0.4s slower than second-placed Robinson and half-a-tenth quicker than the Silverstone and Spa pole-winning McLaren of Ciaran Haggerty and Sandy Mitchell.
But Century Motorsport’s session ended in the garage with problems for both of its Ginettas: Nathan Freke and Anna Walewska finished ninth in the times but missed the final 15 minutes when the latter nudged the barriers, while Aleksander Schjerpen failed to complete a flying lap after the sister G55 blew an engine on its out lap.
Second practice begins at 12:15 today