Seb Morris and Team Parker Racing led the way in British GT’s first practice session at Oulton Park this morning, while GT4 proved finely poised between Century Motorsport and PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport.
The fastest times were set at the start of the session, which remained dry throughout. That resulted in very few changes at the top of a leaderboard headed by Morris for much of the hour-long duration.
The Bentley Continental driver’s best lap of 1m34.419s was two tenths quicker than Phil Keen could muster in the #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini and, impressively, already over a second up on the GT3 lap record set last season.
Beechdean AMR’s Ross Gunn was another to spend much of the session inside the top-three, his fastest time ending up just 0.033s shy of Keen’s, while championship leader Jonny Adam’s late effort in the similar TF Sport-run Aston Martin V12 Vantage helped him jump ahead of Rob Bell’s Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650S GT3.
Jody Fannin (PFL Motorsport) and Jon Barnes (TF Sport) made it four V12 Vantages inside the top-seven ahead of Luke Davenport’s Tolman Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT3, which ended practice 1.2s down on Morris’ ultimate pace.
GT4 was dominated by Ginetta teams, with Century Motorsport and PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport once again leading the way. Mike Robinson headed the times initially before Nathan Freke banged in a 1m43.999s to end up just 0.032s faster for Century.
Scott Malvern had run second but was pushed down to third when Freke improved. Nevertheless, the Simpson Motorsport Ginetta was little more than a tenth down on the pace-setting G55, suggesting this afternoon’s GT4 Pro qualifying session could be one to savour.
Beechdean AMR’s Rockingham race winners Jack Bartholomew and Jordan Albert were the first on the non-Ginetta brigade in fourth, albeit half a second down on Freke’s time, while Jack Mitchell and Matty Graham’s Macmillan Racing Aston Martin completed the top-five.
Lanan Racing’s Joey Foster made it four Ginettas inside the first half-dozen ahead of Abbie Eaton’s Ebor GT-run Maserati MC GranTurismo and Matthew George’s Generation AMR SuperRacing Vantage.
Free practice two begins at 12:35, while qualifying gets underway at 15:50 this afternoon.