> Aston Martin and McLaren lead Spa’s second session
> Result: FP2
TF Sport’s Nicki Thiim picked up where he left off this morning by also setting fastest time in second practice at Spa. However, there was a new team and manufacturer atop the GT4 times thanks to Balfe Motorsport’s Michael O’Brien.
Following a slow start, the hour-long session burst into life after 25 minutes when Thiim and Seb Morris traded fastest laps. But the JRM Bentley’s stint at the top was short-lived thanks to TF Sport’s #2 Aston Martin which banged in back-to-back quickest times.
The second – 2m20.819s – was 0.08s faster than Thiim had managed in the morning and 0.3s quicker than Morris.
The rest of the GT3 field finished more than 1.6s adrift of the Dane. Phil Keen’s Barwell Lamborghini was best of the rest in third after beating Century’s early pace-setting BMWs driven by Ben Green and Jack Mitchell.
Optimum’s Aston Martin took the Silver Cup spoils in sixth after beating Barwell and TF Sport’s second Huracan and Vantage.
Further back, Michael O’Brien denied Tom Canning a practice clean sweep by posting the day’s fastest time so far. The Balfe McLaren’s best of 2m33.110s was 0.8s under the TF Sport Aston Martin’s morning benchmark and 0.133s faster than the same combination could muster in FP2.
Fox Motorsport’s Mike Broadhurst slipped to third after leading at half-distance but was still only 0.016s shy of Canning, while TF Sport’s second Vantage shared by Patrick Kibble and Josh Price finished fourth.
0.3s separated Priaulxs Andy and Seb, although the Multimatic Mustangs were split late on when Martin Plowman moved his Beechdean Aston Martin up to sixth.
Debutants Alfab Racing and Academy Motorsport completed the top-eight.
Qualifying for tomorrow’s two-hour race begins at 15:10 CEST this afternoon. Follow it live on britishgt.com/live-timing.