Team Parker Racing’s Seb Morris ran quickest in the Spa weekend’s opening practice session, with a time of 2:20.141 driving the #31 Bentley Continental. The big story of the GT3 class though was an incident which left the championship-leading TF Sport Aston severely damaged and the second Parker Bentley forced to withdraw from the event.
With oil down from a GT4 European Series Maserati at Les Combes, Derek Johnston’s Aston and Callum Macleod’s Bentley were both thrown off into the barriers travelling at around 170mph on the run down to the chicane. The Bentley hit the Armco backwards and with the Vantage sustaining a front-end impact. Thankfully both drivers were unharmed.
The V12 Vantage has a bolt-on bolt-off system which means the front of the car can be replaced with relative ease. It does however leave the mechanics with a lot of work to do to get the car back out for Qualifying. The damage on the Continental meanwhile was too significant to repair.
“It’s touch and go,” said Johnston’s co-driver Jonny Adam, who has been roped in to help with the repairs. “The Aston’s clever front chassis means we can repair the sort of damage that might sideline other cars. The guys have had plenty of practice so know what they’re doing. It will be very tight for qualifying but that’s definitely the plan.”
The incident brought out red flags, which significantly reduced the amount of running in the 50-minute session.
Second quickest in the session was the first of the two Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracans. Phil Keen managed to set a time just four tents off the leading Bentley, with the Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650S of Rob Bell and Alisdair McCaig lapping third quickest and just under the 2:21 mark.
AmDTuning.com’s BMW Z4 and second Barwell Huracan completed the top-five on the screens ahead of both GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghinis, which are making one-off appearances in British GT this weekend in preparation for the Spa 24 Hours later this month.
Down in GT4, Ecurie Ecosse’s 570S GT4 showed off its speed, going fastest. Ciaran Haggerty managed to set a 2:33.651, which is two seconds quicker than any GT4 car has ever set round the circuit.
A group of the GT4 European Series runners finished up positions second to eighth in the GT4 field, with of Nathan Freke and Anna Walewska’s Century Motorsport Ginetta GT4 ending up ninth, and 2.1s shy of the McLaren.
James Holder and Matthew George’s Generation AMR SuperRacing Aston Martin made it three different GT4 manufacturers inside the top-three, while the Lanan Racing Ginetta and Team Parker Racing Porsche completed the top-five.
