Alex Buncombe gave the #32 GT Academy Team RJN Nissan a pre-race boost by topping Saturday’s warm-up session with a time of 2:23.628. “That looks good for the race,” he confirmed. “The car feels good, but reliability will of course be the key. I’d prefer it to stay dry for safety reasons, but at the same time wet running isn’t as hard on the car, so that would be welcome too.
Not every car in the field was pushing for a time, but other fast runner included Maxime Soulet in the #75 Prospeed Porsche, who recorded a series of quick laps and ended up second-fastest at the end with a 2:24.295. Audi troubled the top of the timesheets for the first time at this event – the #13 and #16 WRT and Phoenix cars of Mattias Ekstrom and Markus Winkelhock were third and fourth fastest, respectively.
Polesitter Stefan Mucke was still basking in the glow of Friday’s Super Pole result, but also realistic about the Beechdean Aston’s chances in the race: “We know we’re not really in the running for a win, but we’re hoping to stay at the front for the first couple of hours,” he told us. “The rain won’t give us an advantage, as we didn’t do the test day when it rained, so we’re not sure of tyre pressures yet – we’ll find out in the race.” The Beechdean car only ran a single installation lap in warm-up.
SMP Racing continued to show strong pace, with two of its Ferraris in fifth and ninth place. Rob Bell put the #69 Gulf Racing McLaren sixth fastest, ahead of the #98 Fach Auto Tech Porsche of Martin Ragginger in seventh and Mat Bell in the #230 JRM Nissan in eigth.
Over at AF Corse, Alex Mortimer was enjoying his return to top-line GT racing for the first time since 2011, setting the session’s 19th-quickest time. “There’s been an aero update since I drove the CRS car in 2011, but fundamentally it’s much the same. My pace has been good compared to Toni [Vilander] and I’m ready to go – I can’t wait to do my first run on new tyres.”
Further down the grid, there were problems for the #88 DKR BMW, which returned to the pits on a flatbed with no visible damage, and the #125 United Autosports Audi, which suffered an alternator problem and a right rear puncture.
Warm-up itself took place in warm and dry, if overcast, conditions, but shortly after the session, a heavy thunderstorm moved in over the circuit, causing a brief power blackout in the pit building.
Stephen Errity
