> Result: FP1
Nicki Thiim set the early pace at Brands Hatch this morning to leave TF Sport’s #11 Aston Martin half-a-second clear of its nearest GT3 rivals, while Scott Malvern’s Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG topped the GT4 class.
Callum Macleod led the opening 20 minutes but slipped to second when Thiim posted what would remain the session’s fastest time: 1m26.377s. That was 0.506s faster than Team Parker’s #7 Bentley, which was still second when the hour-long session came to an end.
Jonny Adam’s Optimum Motorsport Aston Martin finished just 0.038s further back, while championship leader Phil Keen also popped Barwell Motorsport’s Lamborghini into the top-four as the clock ticked towards zero.
Marco Sorensen (TF Sport), Yelmer Buurman (ERC Sport), Spa winner Maxime Martin (Jetstream Motorsport) and Jonny Cocker (Barwell) completed a top-eight separated by 1.1s.
Elsewhere, Malvern led a competitive GT4 session that saw Mercedes-AMG lead McLaren and Ginetta.
The Team Parker driver’s 1m34.118s was enough to beat Tolman Motorsport’s Charlie Fagg and Michael O’Brien by 0.325s. HHC Motorsport’s Will Burns finished just 0.033s further back and two tenths clear of team-mates Patrik Matthiesen and Callum Pointon.
All three of Tolman’s 570Ss featured in the top-six thanks to Jordan Albert/Lewis Proctor and Joe Osborne/David Pattison, while the Fox Motorsport Mercedes-AMG and Century’s #42 BMW completed the top-eight.
Two brief red flag periods, both triggered by Will Moore’s Academy Motorsport Aston Martin, punctuated an otherwise trouble-free hour-long session held under sunny skies.
The morning’s second practice sessions begins at 11:40.