Stormy conditions and multiple red flags meant the first two sessions of the British GT Championship’s #DoningtonDecider proved chaotic but none of that fazed either Marcus Clutton or Sandy Mitchell who powered Orange Racing with JMH and Barwell Motorsport to the top of the times.

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GT4 proved to be an intriguing watch all morning, as almost every crew had a spell at the top with Team Parker Racing and Optimum Motorsport in first place as the music stopped. 

Free Practice

The first session, the only one ran in the dry as Storm Amy brought strong winds and rain to Donington, proved to be near-enough pointless as two long red flag periods completely disrupted any attempts teams were making to try and get some race running in before focus changed to Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying. 

The first 10 minutes provided some excitement, as Pros got behind the wheel of their respective steeds to get some quick laps in and make sure the cars were properly set-up for what is set to be a frenetic weekend of action with titles set to be decided. 

But the fastest at the start proved to be drivers not in the title fight at all, perhaps freed to do battle without the pressure of a trophy at stake. It was Barwell Motorsport’s Sandy Mitchell who powered the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 to an initial benchmark of 1m27.658sec before he was beaten by Marcus Clutton in the Orange Racing with JMH McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

His 1m27.287sec was a good effort, and it was one that couldn’t be topped despite a great effort from Sven Müller to move within three-tenths in the Team Parker Racing Porsche. There was no time for any improvements as the first of two red flags came out as Joe Wheeler crashed the Mahiki Racing Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo going down the Craner Curves. 

In what has been a bad weekend for the Mahiki team already – the team’s new McLaren 720S GT3 had to withdraw after a crash in testing – the Ginetta could be a doubt for the rest of the weekend as the car made contact with the barriers, leading to significant front and rear-end damage. 

After a 25-minute delay to get the car recovered and the tyre barrier repaired, the session got going again with the Am drivers in the car to get in their all-important running. That meant times weren’t particularly changing, apart from Jonny Adam and Marvin Kirchhöfer – who had let their Ams do the running first – moving their Blackthorn Aston and Optimum McLaren respectively into the lower reaches of the top ten. 

But then with 15 minutes to left, an unseen coming together between two GT4s at Redgate – Jolt Racing’s McLaren Artura driven by Rupert Williams and Century Motorsport’s BMW M4 pedalled by championship leader Ravi Ramyead – led to another red flag to recover both cars from the gravel. Such was the extent of the recovery operation required, the session didn’t resume meaning less than 20 minutes of the session ran under green flag conditions. 

In GT4, there was a bit more changing around, with Luke Garlick – in the last remaining Mahiki entry – and Team Parker Racing’s Phil Keen swapping times every lap in the first 12 minutes of the session as they both hit the ground running – enjoying a dry track to get their cars up to speed. 

After the first interruption, you could throw in the second Team Parker Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Seb Morris as well as MKH Racing’s Owen Hizzey – the latter demonstrating his prodigious speed in GT Cup is easily transferred across to British GT. 

Come the early chequered flag, it was Morris from Hizzey with Harry George proving to be the best of the championship contenders with third in his Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura – just 0.049sec ahead of the sister car driven by fellow title fighters Marc Warren & Jack Brown. 

Pre-Qualifying

The rain finally arrived for lunchtime’s Pre-Qualifying, not as heavily as it could have but enough to combine with the howling winds to make the circuit wet and tricky for teams as they looked to set those all important quick laps in case the afternoon’s qualifying session got cancelled.

From the start, it was once again Sandy Mitchell who set the pace in what seems to be a bit of a tradition for the Scot to set the times alight first thing. With everyone on wets, it took a time for drivers just to settle back into that wet running groove again which meant times were coming down in decent chunks every time. 

After the first 15 minutes, it was Maxi Götz who set the pace at the front, as he swapped places with Kirchhöfer – the two Germans doing battle to be on top. Instead, the action was focusing behind as Marcus Clutton showcased once again the speed of the Orange McLaren as moved up to second.

Through the middle phase of a mercifully uninterrupted session, the times settled down as the Ams settled in for a longer run. It was only in the final 10 minutes when the track started to get something of a drier line that the times started to become active again. 

Indeed, it was Sam Neary – making a welcome return alongside dad Richard for the first time since Spa – who was setting the times alight in the Team Abba Racing Mercedes along with Martin Plowman in the Paddock Motorsport McLaren. The pair were duking it out, swapping times at the top with regularity – Neary not even letting an early quick lap being deleted for a breach of track limits stop him from pushing the benchmark down into the low 1m35s. 

But it was that man Mitchell again who then really put the hammer down as he moved into the 1m33s with ease. Come the chequered flag coming out there was yet more action as Götz thought he gone better with a 1m32.717sec but Mitchell’s final effort was a beast and he finished on top by 0.314sec. Third went to Sven Müller – the Porsche driver once again getting the 911 GT3 R up to the top end of the times. 

Plowman’s early efforts rewarded Paddock with fourth, while Kirchhöfer rounded out the top five in the car he shares with Morgan Tillbrook. 

It was a similar routine in GT4, where Luca Hopkinson picked up from where co-driver Harry George left off in Free Practice as he topped the session with his last lap to go 1.451sec clear of MKH Racing’s Owen Hizzey with a 1m38.893sec in an Artura that is really loving the conditions in the East Midlands so far this weekend. 

Despite being one of many drivers to the top the times at one time or another, Charlie Robertson ended the session third in the BMW he’s sharing with Ravi Ramyead. Another good session for the championship leaders, but their nearest competition is right behind as Marc Warren set the best time in the #90 Artura he shares with Jack Brown.