After the terrible weather this morning we had sunshine for the start for the second free practice session, extended to 2 hours long to compensate for the near 30 minutes of running lost this morning.
The track though was still very damp, and very slippy, in parts and there was no shortage of grip limits being found, exceeded, and minor consequences ensuing!
In LMP2 it seemed that most of the major runners took turns in the top 2, James Winslow, Mikhail Aleshin and Nicolas Lapierre in the early running, Felipe Albuquerque, Jon Peter de Bruin and Jon Lancaster into the final half hour wth the times tumbling as the big orange ball in the sky continued it’s remorseless work to suck moisture from the racing surface.
Lancaster’s 1:32.346 ended the session around three tenths up on Lapierre’s late session best with Mikhail Aleshin pipping Harry Tincknell for third, both under a second off.
In LMP3 it seemed that the Team LNT cars had two objectives, top the times and keep the Ligier behind. Both Mike Simpson and Charlie Robertson managed to do just that! It was Simpson’s 1:39.712 that ruled the roost, a tenth ahead of the team car with Thomas Accary a second back in the #9 Graff Ligier
GTE saw another gaggle of top contenders duking it out for timing screen supremacy, Alexander Talkanitsa Jr, Rory Butcher, Matt Griffin, Adam Carroll all topping the class times in the first hour or so.
It would though be James Calado’s late session time in the #66 JMW Ferrari that would top the class at the flag, 1:40.231 just enough to fend off the best shot from Andy Priaulx’s Marc VDS BMW, a tenth and a half back with Richard Lietz third fastest in the #88 Proton Porsche.
GTC saw TF Sport’s Euan Hankey take an early advantage but as the times tumbled it was the Championship contenders, Stuart Hall in the #62 Ferrari, Franck Perera in the TDS BMW and Marco Cioci in the #63 GFerrari. Hall’s best, a 1:40.929 would top a Ferrari 1,2 at the flag, the #63 a tenth back, the BMW just a further tenth away, tight at the top!
