+ Result: Free Practice 1
Ben Barnicoat set the fastest time of opening Free Practice at Spa-Francorchamps, narrowly edging out the Herberth Motorsport Porsche of Harry King.
After switching teams to join Paddock Motorsport, Revie Lake and Blake Angliss made a flying start in the ex-Mahiki Racing McLaren by leading the GT4 times.
With the Belgian sun beating down, the combined 55-car British GT, FFSA GT and Alpine Cup field headed out with track position at a premium. Both of the fastest two laps happened early, with Barnicoat setting a 2:18.628s aboard the #77 McLaren he shares with Morgan Tillbrook on just his second tour, and King followed suit by going just 0.003s slower right after.
The Porsche’s hopes of overhauling the McLaren were ended when King’s co-driver ‘Bankcy’ crashed coming out of Curve Paul Frere and hit the wall, bringing out the red flags. Running resumed with 26 minutes left but improvements were scarce, with Barnicoat and King’s times standing to the flag.
The damage was sufficient for Herberth to withdraw the car from the meeting, while the driver has been transferred to hospital for further assessment after reporting back pain.
The twin Barwell Lamborghinis were third and fourth, with Hugo Cook and Rob Collard narrowly ahead of Jarrod Waberski and Alex Martin, who also led the way in Silver-Am. The Rodin Ferrari shared by Cameron Campbell and Joshua Buchan completed the top five.
Lake and Angliss moved to the top of the British GT4 order on their sixth lap, with Lake’s best proving just enough to keep the McLaren ahead of Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner’s Grange/FSR Aston Martin. Championship returnee Mikey Porter, who has stepped into Luca Hopkinson’s seat, helped Optimum’s #59 Artura to third.
Free Practice 2 is set for 13:10 local time.
