Extremely heavy rain meant most teams sat out the majority of Saturday morning’s first BES practice session at Silverstone, some just doing a few laps to get a feel for the Pirelli wet tyre.
The front-runners got down to a pace of around 2:30 in the first 20 minutes of running, before the rain became truly torrential and standing water began to gather at several corners.
With dry conditions forecast for tomorrow’s qualifying and race, there was little point in risking damage and although the session was not red-flagged, no car ventured out for the next hour or so, leaving plenty of time to catch up with drivers in the garages.
Michael Caine’s early lap of 2:30.176 was still the quickest of the session when the chequered flag came out, but the 2012 British GT champion was keeping things in perspective. “We’d never been out on the Pirelli wets, so we just needed to get a few laps done. The car was good, it was simply a case of taking your time in these conditions.”
TDS Racing’s Nicolas Armindo agreed: “Conditions were crazy, we were just floating around like a boat. We couldn’t really do any useful running so we’re staying put for now.”
The #333 GT Corse by Rinaldi Ferrari 458 became a temporary YouTube sensation after Vadim Kogay’s incident-filled stint at Monza. But as the car’s pro driver Marco Seefried explained, there was more to it than just inexperience: “It was partly my fault, because when I was fighting with the Kessel Ferrari, we touched under braking and his exhaust hit the front of the car where the intake for the brake cooling ducts is located.
“The problem was only starting to become apparent towards the end of my stint, but got worse when Vadim got in. After the race, the outside pads were okay, but the inside ones and the cooling ducts had melted. We were also having some problems with the radio so he couldn’t hear the calls to come in.”
The factory Bentleys were also sheltering in the garage, and Antoine Leclerc was eager to share just how difficult it had been: “It was just impossible to drive – I was on the Hangar Straight at 20 percent throttle after Becketts and just lost the car on the straight. We have done some testing in the wet, so we’re okay for setup, but I think it’s going to be drier tomorrow.”
Aston WEC driver Alex MacDowall is guesting with Beechdean Motorsport this weekend, in what will probably be his only GT3 outing of the season. “I tested the car once before at Snetterton about two years ago when I was looking at my options for GT racing, and again about two weeks ago at Rockingham with Andrew [Howard]. It’s got less grip than the GTE, and it’s tricky to get the maximum out of the ABS brakes. I was offered the chance to do this race for a good price, but Spa 24 will be too expensive, so I don’t think we can get the funds together to do that.”
Second last time out at Monza, the #26 Sainteloc Audi was wearing its completed new livery, with prominent sponsorship from EA Games’ FIFA World online football game. Gregory Guilvert was in a sunny mood despite the miserable weather. “We have everything we need for a strong result again,” he declared. “I had some experience with the Audi on Pirellis in the wet at the first Blancpain Sprint Series race in Nogaro [where he subbed for Roman Rusinov at G-Drive], but nothing as bad as this.”
As mentioned yesterday, Bernd Schneider is filling in for Max Buhk in the HTP Mercedes at Silverstone, and the last time the German ace raced here, he won in a Mercedes – FIA GTs in 1998. “We made the best of things that weekend – we were still in the previous year’s car until Le Mans, whereas Porsche already had its new car,” he remembered. Schneider was keen to get some laps in despite the heavy rain, as the circuit has of course changed considerably since the late nineties. “I couldn’t see much and it was difficult to stay on track,” he laughed. “You couldn’t always use the proper line with all the standing water. But it’s looking okay so far – obviously I have good memories with HTP from the Spa 24 and Nurburgring 1000km last year.”
The #111 Kessel Ferrari hit the barriers just after Maggots-Becketts with 15 minutes to go, bringing out the red flag for approximately six minuted before a final nine minutes of green-flag running.
Behind the Oman Racing Aston, the next-quickest car was Franck Perera’s Pro GT Porsche, followed by Stef Dusseldorp in the #85 HTP Mercedes, the aforementioned Armindo in the #10 TDS BMW and Schneider in the other HTP car.
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