British GT 2017 – Oulton Park FP1 curtailed after crash

The first 2017 British GT Free Practice session ended with the #6 Lamborghini on top of the timesheets, after a truncated session due to a collision.

With both dry and wet running in Friday’s testing, this first official practice session was being used as a test of the changeable (wet to dry) conditions. Sam Tordoff, in his first British GT race meeting, brought the #6 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 to the top of the time sheet on his last lap, a 1m 43.410 setting him just 58 hundredths ahead of team mate Jon Minshaw’s #33. The #24 Macmillian AMR Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 of Jack Mitchell and James Littlejohn was in 3^rd place overall, 1.881 seconds behind Tordoff. In GT4, The #62 Academy Motorsport Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 of Matt Nicoll-Jones and Will Moore was fastest with a 1m 52.888, 0.171 ahead of the #56 Tolan Motorsport McLaren 570S GT4 of David Pattison and Joe Osborne, and 0.277 ahead of the Track-Club’s #72 McLaren of Adams Balon and Mackay.

However, around 26 minutes into the session, the #43 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 (Steve Fresle) and #36 Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing Ginetta G55 GT4 (Mike Newbould) were involved in a collision towards the Warwick bridge. The session was immediately ended due to the large amount of damage to the barriers at Turn 15, and both drivers were taken out of their cars and into the medical centre, before being taken to the local hospital for precautionary checks. Both drivers have been confirmed okay, but are currently being checked out by doctors, and not expected to be out again this meeting.

For now, though, the teams will have to make the most of the second Free Practice session at 12h 15 today, ahead of qualifying at 16h 20.

Photo C/O Jakob Ebrey Photography