Century Motorsport driver Charles Clark topped the British GT Free Practice session at the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit.
Clark set his lap time of 1:26.030 in the #44 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, beating the #63 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Hugo Cook, whose best time was 1:26.646.
Ben Barnicoat put the championship-leading #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren GT3 Evo in third position after his fastest lap of 1:26.773.
Since taking its first GT3 Silver-Am win last time out at Snetterton, Rodin Motorsport continued its form with Josh Buchan’s 1:26.861 lap time putting their #13 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo in fourth outright and quickest in GT3 Silver-Am.
The hour-long session prematurely ended under a red flag with under a minute remaining when Buchan’s teammate Cameron Campbell went into the gravel trap at the Old Hairpin, stopping before any contact with the barriers.
Callum Macleod put Optimum’s #3 McLaren in fifth position after a 1:27.015 time, although they were one of six cars to breach track limits enough to trigger 2-minute stop-and-go penalties.
This included the #90 Optimum McLaren and the #59 Optimum McLaren Artura GT4, the latter having had a gearbox change ahead of the session and incurring the penalty twice.
Others included the #13 Rodin Ferrari, #15 2 Seas Mercedes, and the #42 Toro Verde GT Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo.
GT3 Pro-Am championship leaders Orange Racing by JMH finished fourth owing to Marcus Clutton’s 1:27.016 lap time, ahead of the #78 Barwell Lamborghini of Jarrod Waberski, who set a 1:27.031.
Chris Lulham put the #18 2 Seas Mercedes in eighth (1:27.057) ahead of the #90 Optimum McLaren of Jack Brown (1:27.247), as Aston Martin factory driver Ross Gunn rounded out the top 10 in the #7 Beechdean Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (1:27.394).
In the GT4 category, 16-year-old Revie Lake put the #84 Paddock Motorsport McLaren fastest with his lap time of 1:34.391.
Toro Verde GT’s #42 Ginetta occupied second overall and first in Pro-Am, after Jack Mitchell’s time of 1:34.398.
The team’s other car, the #8 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS, finished third in the GT4 field after Tom Bradshaw’s 1:34.702.
Four-time BTCC champion Colin Turkington put West Surrey Racing’s #61 BMW M4 GT4 Evo in fourth place (1:35.035).
Veteran Aston Martin factory driver Darren Turner rounded out the top five in the #27 Grange Racing by FSR Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo (1:35.053).
Innovation Racing’s championship-contending #74 Ginetta experienced a driveshaft issue, spending 36 minutes in the garage before returning to the track with 6 minutes left.
Pre-qualifying at 11:55 local time continues the British GT action at Donington Park.
Image courtesy of JEP/SRO
