ERC Sport’s Yelmer Buurman topped the combined times during pre-season British GT testing at Oulton Park this afternoon, while Scott Malvern’s Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG paced the GT4 class.
Both drivers were underneath the championship’s existing lap records during the second of the afternoon’s two dry sessions. AMG factory driver Buurman, making his British GT debut this weekend, produced a best of 1m34.380s to beat Callum Macleod’s existing lap record by two tenths.
The Dutchman, who shares his Mercedes-AMG with Lee Mowle, was also 0.270s faster than fellow debutant and TF Sport Aston Martin driver Marco Sorensen, while Macleod’s time from session one remained sufficiently rapid to leave his Team Parker Racing Bentley third.
Meanwhile, Malvern set a best time of 1m43.618s in the second session to pip Joe Osborne’s table-topping time from the day’s earlier test by just 0.065s.
Malvern and Team Parker co-driver Nick Jones have switched to the Mercedes-AMG GT4 this season and immediately demonstrated its potential by also recording the second fastest time in the opening session behind Osborne’s Tolman Motorsport McLaren 570S GT4.
European GT4 frontrunners Equipe Verschuur were third fastest over the two sessions courtesy of Finlay Hutchison and Daniel Mckay.
Oulton Park’s current GT4 lap record – 1m43.674s – was set in 2015 by Luke Davenport during British GT’s pre-Pirelli era.
Opening practice takes place at 09:30 tomorrow ahead of a second practice session and qualifying in the afternoon.