Beechdean Aston Martin team owner Andrew Howard showed the British GT championship’s pro drivers a clean pair of heels in the first of Saturday’s two practice session for the fifth round of the series at Brands Hatch.
A time of 1:26.760 in the final moments of the hour-long session was enough to put Howard ahead of the Team Russia and Ecurie Ecosse BMW drivers Phil Keen and Alexander Sims in second and third. The two Barwell-run cars were followed by the TF Sport Aston of Derek Johnston and Matt Bell in fourth, while Adam Carroll rounded out the top five in the FF Corse Ferrari he shares with Gary Eastwood.
Quickest GT4 runner was the Century Motorsport Ginetta of Alexsander Schjerpen and James Birch with a time of 1:34.439. They headed an all-Ginetta top three completed by the University of Bolton and Tolman Motorsport G55s.
The session passed largely without incident, although the #2 Oman Racing Aston Martin of Al Harthy/Lloyd pulled in early smoking heavily and spent the session in the garage. Motorbase team boss David Bartrum confirmed the cause as a faulty pump leaking oil over the bodywork and exhaust, which was then burning. There was also a brief stoppage for the Ecosse BMW due to a faulty ECU that was quickly swapped out.
Up next is second free practice at 12:45pm, before the late-afternoon qualifying sessions to decide the grid.
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