Both of Optimum Motorsport’s GT3 McLarens topped a British GT Championship practice session, as the 720Ss looked like the cars to beat in practice ahead of the crown jewel Silverstone 500. 

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Mahiki Racing’s Jack Mitchell dominated the running in GT4 as he powered his Lotus Emira to the top spot in both of the one-hour practice sessions in Northamptonshire. 

Free Practice

The first competitive running at the home of British motorsport proved to be a calm affair, as teams looked to get as much preparation in the books as possible ahead of Sunday’s three-hour extravaganza with race strategy the priority on what was a bright but cool morning in Northamptonshire.

Track action was slightly hotter, with the Pro drivers just dialling themselves in during the opening 15 minutes of the hour-long Free Practice, with Darren Burke – in the Steller Motorsport Audi R8 LMS EVO II – and Orange Racing’s Marcus Clutton putting in the early top times, but it wasn’t long before the session’s definitive time was logged.

First, it was Maxi Götz in the #18 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 who took the top spot, but only minutes later it was Marvin Kirchhöfer who powered the Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 to a 1m57.842sec – 0.383sec faster than Götz. In a session of quiet tinkering, the Swiss racer’s time smashed a lap record that was already broken in Friday testing, and all signs point to a fastest ever GT3 lap of Silverstone come the race.

Behind, there was a few little changes but nothing too major as drivers found extra tenths here or there, but not a real stunner of a lap to shake up the order. The only significant move late on was Sven Muller moving the Team Parker Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R up to third, 0.097sec down on the Mercedes ahead. 

Fourth were Donington Park winners Kiern Jewiss and Charles Dawson in their 2 Seas AMG, squeezing themselves ahead of Burke and team-mate Matt Topham just before the halfway mark.

Indeed, most of the action happened in the first half of a session split in two by a red flag to recover Simon Orange’s Orange Racing McLaren after a trip into the gravel at Becketts. There was reports of perhaps some rear wing damage to the 720S after touching the wall, but hopefully nothing stopping the JMH squad – which engineers the car – getting it back out for lunch-time’s Pre-Qualifying. The team were running well until the off, finishing ninth overall and only 0.890sec off the pace.

Slightly ahead, a flurry of quick laps from Jonny Adam allowed he and Giacomo Petrobelli to finish sixth in their Blackthorn AMR Aston Martin, while the returning Dan Harper and Darren Leung took seventh in their Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3 Evo. 

Eighth was the fastest of the Ferrari 296 GT3s, this the Spirit of Race example driven by Duncan Cameron & Matt Griffin. The Nearys rounded out the top ten, with their effort just 0.929sec off the top – could a close qualifying session be on the cards?

If GT3 was leisurely, GT4 was a relaxed sit in the sun. Early in the session the two Mahiki Racing Lotus Emiras of Jack Mitchell and Aiden Neate stomped ahead of the competition and their early benchmarks – a 2m08.355sec and a 2m08.834sec respectively – proved too much for anyone else to better.

It was Charlie Robertson – sharing a Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 with Ravi Ramyead – who came closest to breaking the Lotus hegemony at the top but his best effort was 0.391sec down. 

Even down the order slightly, there’s not many tight gaps as you’d expect from the junior class with Jack Brown and Marc Warren another 0.263sec back in fourth and Seb Morris another tenth down in the Mercedes-AMG he shares with Ed McDermott. 

Pre-Qualifying

If the morning’s running was a serene experience, lunch-time’s Pre-Qualifying was chaos in GT form with not one, not two, but three red flag interruptions to disrupt any attempts at long-runs ahead of this afternoon’s crucial qualifying session.

At the start, it seemed as though the second 60 minutes of practicing would be a replica of the first, with Callum Macleod – in the second of the Optimum McLarens – who topped the times with a 1m58.584sec, slower than the morning’s best but still a mightily competitive effort. 

There was a mix of marques behind as Matt Griffin powered his mean green Ferrari up to second, just ahead of Fran Rueda’s Kessel Racing 296 and Martin Plowman’s Paddock Motorsport McLaren 720S. 

It was then that the first stoppage took place as the Bridger Motorsport Honda NSX ended up in the gravel, with a seven minute or so stoppage to get the Japanese machine out onto the asphalt again. 

Come the green again, the biggest mover was Will Moore who’s making a welcome British GT return this weekend in a Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo he’s sharing with Jon Kearney. He powered up to fourth and then improved his time again a few laps later but stayed in that position as Oli Webb – in the Greystone McLaren he shares with Andrey Borodin – smashed in the second-fastest lap in a day that’s shaping up to be a strong one for the Woking manufacturer. 

There wasn’t time for many more improvements as a nine-minute red flag was called for as that Century BMW we mentioned in the previous paragraph put a new spin on GT3 as it stopped on track with just three wheels. 

When that got cleared away, it was only a matter of two minutes before yet another interruption which somehow involved Andrew Gilbert’s Ferrari, the one that did so well in the early running with Rueda. For a while, the timing screens suggested the car was going to be under investigation but minutes later no further action was declared against the #74. 

After that chaos, it left the 33-strong field with just nine minutes in which to find a final burst of speed. That proved to be the case behind Macleod, who’s time was unbeatable, with a rotating cast of drivers inhabiting the second-place spot – first it was Kirchhöfer, looking to do a double, and then it was Jonny Adam in the Blackthorn Vantage who got within 0.078sec of the fastest time to take the chequered with the runner-up position. 

Third went to Kirchhöfer and Morgan Tillbrook, with fourth being Hugo Cook and Rob Collard – the Barwell Motorsport crew getting their Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 into the right window ahead of qualifying. Tom Wood made it two Astons in the top five with his final lap in the Beechdean Aston – 0.314sec off the fastest time. 

GT4 proved more competitive than the morning’s running, but still ended up with Jack Mitchell fastest in the Mahiki Racing Emira. At first, it was Charlie Robertson’s BMW who held the edge over Luca Hopkinson’s Optimum-run McLaren Artura, but as the field got disrupted by the repeated interruptions, the Lotus of Mitchell – and co-driver Steven Lake – got quicker and quicker. Eventually, Mitchell got himself to the front of the pack, a 2m09.475sec his best effort.

Quarter-of-a-second behind, Jack Brown was second in the fourth of Optimum’s quartet of McLarens, 0.038sec ahead of the Artura of Hopkinson and Harry George.

It was an Aston Martin in fourth, as the Endurance Cup-entered MKH Racing Vantage of Peter Montague and Stuart Hall powered up the order with the latter behind the wheel, taking the fourth spot despite a late charge from fellow Endurance Cup competitor Seb Morris, who continues to demonstrate his comfort and speed behind the wheel of the Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4. 

Qualifying takes place at 4.15pm local time (5.15pm in Europe).