Orange Racing powered by JMH topped the timesheets across the three sessions at the British GT Media Day at Silverstone, whilst MK Racing showed strong pace in the GT4 class.
Marcus Clutton recorded the fastest lap of the test with a 1:57.972 in the final session, the only driver to break into the 1:57s across the three outings.
Their time was closely followed by the Barwell Motorsport pairing of Hugo Cook and Sandy Mitchell, who were just 0.03 seconds slower with a 1:58.002 set in the second session, where they were fastest at the time.
GT3
It was a strong start to the day for last year’s runners-up in the #63 Barwell Motorsport car, who led the opening session by over seven tenths ahead of Orange Racing.
It was a difficult start to proceedings for the #44 Century Motorsport entry, which stopped just moments after leaving the pit lane when the opening session got underway. Nevertheless, they still managed to complete 19 laps and finish 15th overall in that opening session.
The #78 Barwell Motorsport car, with Jarrod Waberski, also showed strong pace across the opening two sessions, consistently running near the front. However, in the third session, they ran into technical issues and stopped on track, bringing out the second red flag of the day. Despite this, Waberski was still able to end the day strongly, setting the second-fastest time in the final session.
The #77 Optimum Motorsport also showed solid pace throughout the day, with Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat behind the wheel ending the day just outside the top three.
Full GT3 standings (across all sessions):
1st: #67 Orange Racing by JMH – 1:57.972
2nd: #63 Barwell Motorsport – 1:58.002
3rd: #78 Barwell Motorsport – 1:58.278
4th: #77 Optimum Motorsport – 1:58.684
5th: #15 2 Seas Motorsport – 1:58.793
6th: #9 Paddock Motorsport – 1:58.858
7th: #13 Rodin Motorsport – 1:59.110
8th: #55 Barwell Motorsport – 1:59.245
9th: #3 Optimum Motorsport – 1:59.303
10th: #69 Mahiki Racing – 1:59.591
11th: #91 Paradine Motorsport – 1:59.650
12th: #90 Optimum Motorsport – 1:59.810
13th: #99 Greystone GT – 2:00.119
14th: #18 2 Seas Motorsport – 2:00.179
15th: #44 Century Motorsport – 2:00.247
GT4
The #21 MK Racing car of Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton topped the times in GT4 in what looks to be a highly competitive field this season. After the three sessions, the top three teams in class were separated by just over a tenth of a second.
GBR Stratton Motorsport trailed MK Racing by just 0.034 seconds to record the second quickest time of the day. The #97 entry is competing this season with drivers John Hartshorne and former BTCC driver Ronan Pearson.
The highly anticipated #61 WSR FlexiFly entry ended the day third in the timings, with four-time BTCC champion Colin Turkington and multiple historic rally champion Ernie Graham behind the wheel.
Full GT4 standings (across all sessions):
16th: #21 MK Racing – 2:10.343
17th: #97 GBR Stratton Motorsport – 2:10.377
18th: #61 WSR FlexiFly – 2:10.457
19th: #59 Optimum Motorsport – 2:10.497
20th: #27 Grange Racing by FSR – 2:10.586
21st: #84 Mahiki Racing – 2:10.692
22nd: #40 Townsend Racing – 2:11.089
23rd: #8 Toro Verde GT – 2:11.144
24th: #24 Century Motorsport – 2:11.177
25th: #74 Innovation Racing – 2:11.553
The media day was the perfect opportunity for teams and drivers to get up to speed ahead of the British GT season, which gets underway with a return to the national circuit for the Silverstone 500 on April 25-26.
