> Result: FP2
Beechdean AMR’s Jonny Adam and TF Sport’s Jamie Caroline picked up where they left off in FP1 by once again topping the times in British GT’s second practice session at Brands Hatch.
Reigning champion Adam, making a one-off appearance alongside Andrew Howard this weekend, set three times fast enough for top spot towards the end of the 60-minute practice session, which remained dry throughout. Just over a second covered the top-10, although Adam’s advantage over second place accounted for 0.3s of that.
Sam Neary (ABBA Racing) and Jack Mitchell (2 Seas Motorsport) made the early running before Adam ventured out for a three-lap run with 10 minutes remaining. The Aston Martin factory driver had done something similar in the morning but was initially unable to beat his FP1 time. Instead, it was the Scot’s second lap – 1m25.208s – that ultimately set the pace ahead of qualifying, while his third was 0.2s slower.
That left Beechdean’s Vantage 0.365s clear of Mitchell whose time from midway through the session remained good enough for second.
Michael O’Brien backed up Jenson Team Rocket RJN’s FP1 pace by again setting the third fastest time, although his co-driver James Baldwin was denied a chance to go quicker when a suspension issue stranded the McLaren on track. Still, O’Brien ended up just 0.013s shy of Mitchell and two tenths clear of WPI’s Franck Perera who also jumped up the order in the final 10 minutes.
Neary’s earlier exploits helped ABBA finish as the fastest Mercedes-AMG in fifth and just 0.011s slower than Perera. Barwell’s best-placed Lamborghini – the car shared by Sandy Mitchell and Rob Collard – completed the top-six ahead of Optimum’s McLaren and RAM’s #6 Mercedes-AMG.
Further back, TF Sport once again finished one-two in the GT4 class after Jamie Caroline nipped ahead of team-mate Patrick Kibble.
The #95 Aston Martin lowered the class benchmark on three occasions thanks to the combination of Connor O’Brien and Kibble, but it was Caroline who had the final say when he set the day’s fastest time – 1m32.146s – with just over 10 minutes remaining. His time was eight tenths under the current lap record and 0.413s quicker than Kibble’s best.
Speedworks’ Sam Smelt was once again best of the rest in third, the new Toyota Supra he shares with James Kell lapping six tenths slower than Caroline, while HHC’s McLarens completed the top-five.
Qualifying begins at 16:00 BST today. Follow it live on britishgt.com/live.