+ Result: Brands Hatch Free Practice
Ben Barnicoat and Morgan Tillbrook set the pace in opening Brands Hatch practice for Optimum Motorsport, with just over a second separating the entire GT3 grid.
Blake Angliss and Revie Lake continued their strong run of form aboard Paddock Motorsport’s McLaren by going fastest of all in GT4 by a similarly slim margin.
Jarrod Waberski set the first time in the Silver-Am title-chasing #78 Barwell Lamborghini before Marcus Clutton (Orange Racing McLaren) and Barnicoat (#77 Optimum McLaren) each took a turn out front as the field completed their first laps of the Brands GP loop.
Clutton shaved more time off to head the pack before Charles Clark produced a great run in Century’s BMW to move himself top by just 0.001s. That looked to have settled the result before Barnicoat went for one final effort in the dying moments of the session, going 0.023s faster as the flag dropped.
Clark and Jonathon Beeson held second ahead of Simon Orange and Clutton, while Kevin Tse and Chris Lulham were fourth in their 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG. Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn made it four different brands in the top five with their Beechdean AMR Aston Martin as Mike Price and Callum Macleod rounded out the top six in the #3 Optimum McLaren. Championship leaders Rob Collard and Hugo Cook were seventh ahead of the sister Barwell Lamborghini of Waberski and Alex Martin.
After scoring their breakthrough GT4 victory last time out at Donington Park Angliss and Lake made a similarly strong start by leading the way in Paddock’s McLaren Artura.
Angliss set the early pace before Thomas Holland’s Innovation Racing Ginetta and Jack Mitchell’s Toro Verde G56 both took a turn out front. Mitchell’s time looked strong but Angliss squeezed an extra 0.009s on his last effort before handing to Lake to return the #84 Artura to the top.
Mitchell and Luke Shaw were second ahead of Josh Stanton and George Gamble’s Optimum McLaren, with Ian Duggan and Tom Bradshaw’s Toro Verde Porsche fourth. Holland and Hadley Simpson were fifth ahead of Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton’s MK Racing Aston Martin.
Pre-Qualifying at Brands Hatch is set for 11:45.