> Result
TF Sport’s Nicki Thiim led an Aston Martin one-two-three-four in opening practice at Snetterton this morning, while as many different manufacturers occupied the top-five places in a GT4 class paced by Team Parker Racing’s Scott Malvern.
Three red flag periods and the odd drop of rain punctuated a 60-minute session dominated by Aston Martin. Thiim was fastest at the halfway mark and remained there by lapping 0.064s faster than Maxime Martin, who moved Jetstream Motorsport’s V12 Vantage up to second in the final moments.
Marco Sorensen was another 0.2s further back and finished less than a tenth clear of fellow AMR driver Jonny Adam in Optimum Motorsport’s Aston Martin.
Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen were fifth, albeit just 0.359s shy of Sorensen’s benchmark lap, while championship leaders Lee Mowle and Yelmer Buurman completed the top-six in their ERC Sport Mercedes-AMG.
The first of Team Parker’s Bentleys, driven by Callum Macleod, was next up while Jonny Cocker’s Lamborghini completed a top-eight separated by 0.6s.
GT4 was even closer, with just 0.8s covering the first 10 cars and six manufacturers.
Jack Mitchell was fastest at half-distance from Malvern before the latter lapped his Mercedes-AMG in 1m59.455s to move 0.052s clear of the Century Motorsport BMW.
Matt Nicoll-Jones and Will Moore’s Academy Aston Martin was 0.3s adrift in third but 0.027s faster than the first of Steller Motorsport’s Toyotas driven by Sennan Fielding and Tom Canning.
Finlay Hutchison’s Equipe Verschuur McLaren completed the eclectic top-five ahead of Tolman Motorsport’s similar #5 570S and Michael Broadhurst’s Fox Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, while HHC’s championship leaders Patrik Matthiesen and Callum Pointon were fastest of Ginetta’s contingent in eighth.
The day’s second free practice session begins at 12:10 today.