A slightly disappointing 15 cars rolled out for International GT Open qualifying at a mild but damp Silverstone on Saturday morning.
Withdrawals from the published entry list included the BJ Team Mosler, the Lechner Racing Merecedes SLS of Mario Plachutta and Thomas Jager, plus the LNT Ginetta G55 of marque boss Lawrence Tomlinson and Mike Simpson.
There were a couple of changes in driver line-ups to note, too, with Federico Leo subbing for Michele Rugolo in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari (the latter on ELMS duties in Austria this weekend) and Nicky Pastorelli’s brother Francesco in for regular driver Diederik Sijthoff in the #4 V8 Racing Corvette.
The Silverstone round also sees a change in the GT Open pitstop time handicap system for the Super GT class only: whenever there are six or fewer cars entered in this class, they will now be handicapped according to their position in the overall, not class, ranking.
Also, the extra handicap of 15 seconds for three class wins in a row will no longer apply. These changes are in response to the low car count in Super GT making it almost impossible for some of the front-runners to finish off the class podium and shed some of their pit handicap times.
Q1
Darren Turner and 2013 British GT4 champion Jody Fannin are making a one-off appearance in GT Open this weekend in a TF Sport-run Aston Martin Vantage GT3, running in the top Super GT class. Unsurprisingly, the brand’s works driver was quick out of the box and set a time good enough for race-one pole on his first flying lap – a 2:19.505.
“The thing with Silverstone is that the track gets faster the wetter it is,” Turner told us afterwards. “My first lap was on used wets, then I put on new wets and tried again, but couldn’t go quicker.”
Turner and Fannin’s drive was confirmed last weekend, and the duo participated in Thursday’s private testing time as well as Friday’s official free practice sessions. “I haven’t driven with TF before, I haven’t driven with Jody before and I haven’t driven in GT Open before, so there’s a lot of firsts this weekend,” Turner continued. “Jody’s very impressive, he was on heavily used tyres in free practice and didn’t put a foot wrong all day.”
Second overall and first in GTS was Novadriver Audi’s Cesar Campanico, just over a tenth behind with a 2:19.685. “We had to do two engine changes on Friday so it hasn’t been the best start to the weekend,” said the Portuguese driver. “Today, we just stuck the tyres on and went for it, so II was quite surprised with where I am. I’m praying it rains for the race, as I think the others will be quicker in the dry.”
Third overall and second in Super GT went to championship challenger Andrea Montermini in the Villorba Corse Ferrari, with a 2:19.724. “It’s not too bad. Hopefully the wet will favour the GT3s, as they have less downforce,” said the Italian veteran. “Yesterday in the dry we ran on used tyres, we were focusing on setup for the race.”
A Ferrari also clinched fourth on the grid four this afternoon’s race, thanks to Paulo Ruberti’s 2:20.072 in the #56 AF Corse Ferrari. “I got caught behind [Miguel] Ramos, as he was coming out of the pits ahead of me when I started my first flying lap,” he said, “so I lost a few tenths through Becketts. I think these Dunlop wets are only at their best for the first lap, so maybe it could have been better.”
The Italian has almost exclusively driven Porsches in his GT career, but is piloting 458s in both International GT Open and the World Endurance Championship for 2014. “I’m enjoying driving the Ferrari this year,” he added. “They require a different style of driving. You have more traction in the Porsche but the Ferrari is easier to drive in fast corners.”
Joel Camathias was fifth overall in the #13 Autorlando Sport Porsche, ahead of a pair of V8 Racing Corvette entries – the #99 of Dennis Retera and the #2 of Ramos. Roman Mavlanov qualified eighth in the first of the two SMP Racing Ferraris.
Q2
Novadriver Audi had another good qualifying in the session to decide the grid for Sunday’s race two. Campanico’s co-driver Aditya Patel secured overall and GTS-class pole position with a time of 2:20.962 – the track a bit wetter this time out than for the earlier session.
Matteo Beretta and Federico Leo made it three different brands in the top three – Beretta going second-fastest for Autorlando Porsche with a 2:21.325 and Leo third with a 2:21.440.
The first Super GT qualifier for Sunday was Niccolo Schiro in the Villorba Ferrari – fourth overall with a 2:21.907, while Fannin put in a strong showing to qualify second in class and fifth overall with a 2:22.079.
The BRDC Rising Star has already had an outing in a GT3 Bentley Continental in the Silverstone Blancpain Endurance round this season, as well as several appearances in a Nissan GT-R last season, but this is his first race weekend in the Aston.
“It’s great to be paired with someone like Darren, as obviously he has a lot of knowledge about this car,” he told us. “We have a 15-second pit handicap as we’re not a full-season entry, but it should go well – I already did a wet session yesterday.”
Nicky Pastorelli qualified the #2 V8 Racing Corvette sixth, ahead of Alvaro Barba in the #63 Ombra Racing Ferrari, Daniel Keilwitz in the #99 Corvette and championship contender Daniel Zampieri in the #60 SMP Racing Ferrari.
Tenth-place qualifier Isaac Tutumlu has a new team-mate in the SRT-run Corvette this weekend in the form of Archie Hamilton. The young Brit has swapped seats with Belgian Maxime Soulet, who’s now in at V8 Racing, and was 11th-fastest in the first qualifying session for Saturday’s race.
“The Corvette isn’t the best car for the conditions and we’re struggling a bit on the Dunlop wets, but we have good race pace,” Hamilton said. “I’m liking it here so far, SRT is a nice small family team and all the work goes into the car.”
Hamilton was still wearing the overalls of the now-defunct Ram Racing Ferrari team he drove for at Le Mans, and said there had been a possibility of further appearances for the outfit later in the season. “It’s a real shame, as it was a great team,” he added.
The first of the weekend’s two races gets underway at 3pm UK time Saturday afternoon.
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Images: FOTOSPEEDY
