Debutant’s Orange Racing secure fastest lap in mixed conditions during Free Practice One

Orange Racing powered by JMH‘s Michael O’Brien and Simon Orange made their mark on the session, securing the fastest lap in mixed, cold, wet and drying conditions, a time of 1:27.439. In GT4, Tom Edgar and Jordan Collard led the pack with the fastest time of 1:35.218 in the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra.

GT3

The sun may have been shining as the cars hit the track, but overnight heavy rain meant the session was declared wet. The order chopped and changed, but Michael O’Brien in the Orange Racing powered by JMH set the fastest lap towards the end of the session. Euan Hankey, Jules Gounon and Lewis Williamson were all in contention, trading fastest laps as the session progressed. Richard Neary in the Team Abba Mercedes made the decision to switch to slicks and it wasn’t long before the rest of the field followed suit.

Gounon led the way on slicks early on, lapping in the 1:34s before Martin Plowman found another second as the conditions improved and the track dried. Gounon somehow found 4 seconds on his next hot lap, establishing a commanding gap before BMW ace Alexander Sims found another couple of tenths. Heading into the final 10 minutes, it was anyone’s guess who would secure the top spot.

Lewis Williamson and James Cottingham, Michael O’Brien and Simon Orange leapt to the forefront in the closing moments, O’Brien securing the top step by 0.679s over Williamson with a time of 1:27.439. Euan Hankey, in the 7TSix McLaren 720s was third with Gounon and Loggie taking fourth. Darren Leung and Alexander Sim’s took fifth place in the Century Motorsport BMW M4.

GT4

The times in GT4 were all over the place throughout the one-hour session. Kavi Jundu, the championship debutant, set the early pace in the mixed conditions, the McLaren 570S he shares with Moh Ritson, nimbly handling the mixed conditions of the drying circuit. The car made the early switch to slicks and the gap to the competition continued to climb. Tom Edgar was the only one who came close, shortening the gap to Jundu’s time before going faster as the times continued to fall. Jordan Collard entered the mix as the session continued to dry, securing 12th place overall, ahead of some of the GT3 runners.

Seb Hopkins put the Team Parker Porsche second in class, head of Tom Rawlings and Chris Salkheld in the Century Motorsport BMW M4. Marco Signoretti and Matt Cowley took fourth place with Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding rounding out the top 5.