Result: FP2
It was another TF Sport one-two at the ‘Donington Decider’ but this time it was the #1 Aston Martin in the hands of Jonny Adam leading the way in second practice, with the #11 sister car that had topped the timing screens under Jon Barnes until the very last moments of the session in second. Meanwhile championship leaders Stuart Middleton and Will Tregurtha topped the GT4 order from the Tolman Motorsport McLaren of David Pattison and Joe Osborne.
Small spots of rain made for interesting conditions as the second hour-long practice session got underway at the Donington Park circuit, but it soon relented as the British GT field headed on to the 2.498-mile former GP venue.
The #1 machine of Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam led the way for TF Sport at the halfway mark on a 1m28.279s with stable-mate Jon Barnes 0.029s shy in second, a foreshadowing of what was to come later in the session. Adam Christodoulou then put the Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing Mercedes-AMG in between the pair but as FP2 headed into its closing stages, Barwell Motorsport shook up the order with Sam Tordoff vaulting into second in the #6 Lamborghini and the #33 car of Phil Keen moving into third.
As the chequered flag was being prepared however, Jonny Adam found more time and the 2016 British GT champion posted a lap of 1m27.884s to best Barnes’ leading time by just 0.013s, thus reversing the positions of the TF Sport cars from FP1.
Barwell Motorsport took third and fourth under Tordoff and Keen respectively with Christodoulou fifth in the Mercedes-AMG. The Team Parker Racing Bentley Continentals took sixth and seventh, with the #7 of Ian Loggie and Callum Macleod heading the championship leading #31 of Parfitt Jnr and Morris. The GT3 order was completed by the JRM Advanced Engineering Nissan GT-R with Charlie Fagg at the wheel and the Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 of Ben Tuck and Nathan Freke.
The championship leading Ginetta of Stuart Middleton and William Tregurtha topped the timing screens in GT4 but with 30 minutes elapsed in the session, it was Richard Taffinder in the #53 UltraTek Racing Team RJN Nissan 370Z that led the way from the Team Parker Racing Porsche Cayman of Nick Jones and Scott Malvern.
That order held until FP2 moved into its final third when Will Tregurtha posted a 1m26.344s to move to the head of the GT4 order for HHC Motorsport. Taffinder and Jones were soon moved further down the times too, as Joe Osborne closed to within 0.112s of Tregurtha’s lap but ultimately fell short.
No further improvements were forthcoming from the top four in GT4, with Mike Simpson putting the #111 Century Motorsport machine he shares with Anna Walewska fifth quickest as the Will Moore/Matt Nicoll-Jones Aston Martin completing the top-six in class. The Lanan Racing Ginetta G55 of David Pittard and Alex Reed meanwhile, the only duo that can deny Tregurtha and Middleton the GT4 title, were ninth quickest.
Qualifying for tomorrow’s season-ending two hour race gets underway at 16:25.