GT: Buurman Tops Time Sheets In Donington FP2

The second practice session ahead of qualifying for rounds three and four of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship saw the #6 RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the hands of Yelmer Buurman top the time sheets with a 1:27.325 set late in the session.

Second quickest was the #66 Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental GT3 in which Scott Malvern lapped in 1:27.375 in the car he shares with Nick Jones.

Completing the overall top three was the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Sandy Mitchell lapping in 1:27.696 before handing over to ex-BTCC star Rob Collard.

In the GT4 class, the #23 Speedworks Motorsport Toyota GR Supra GT4, piloted by James Kell and Sam Smelt, again showed its pace by setting a 1:36.099 to top the category’s time sheets , over a tenth of a second quicker than it had lapped in FP1.

Second quickest in the GT4 class, and nearly four tenths quicker than the earlier session, was the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 with Connor O’Brien and Patrick Kibble sharing the driving duties.

On the opening laps of the 60-minute FP2, Buurman, at the wheel of the #6 RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, went nearly a quarter of second quicker than he had in the first practice session with a 1:27.466. The Dutchman then headed back to the pits to hand over to Ian Loggie to allow the quick Am driver maximum seat time ahead of the afternoon’s qualifying sessions.

Buurman’s time set the standard until Scott Malvern pushed the #66 Team Parker Racing Bentley hard in the latter half of the session to set a 1:27.375. Buurman immediately responded by going back out to go to .05 seconds quicker.

The 60-minute session was largely uneventful, the only interruption being a seven-minute red flag to allow for the recovery of the #9 2 Seas Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 which had become beached in the gravel courtesy of an off-track excursion by Dean Macdonald. The McLaren returned to the pits and went on to set a 1:28.496, tenth quickest on the time sheets and third quickest of the McLaren GT3 entries.

The four ten-minute qualifying sessions, the aggregate times of which set the grid for race one on Sunday August 16, get underway at 16:00 with the lights going for the two-hour endurance format contest at 11:05 on Sunday August 16.