British GT Silverstone 500 Preview & Qualifying

The British GT blue riband event is set to go, who looks strong for the 3 hour race? Who will take pole position for round 6?

Round 6 of the 2017 British GT Championship comes to Silverstone for the series most coveted race, the Silverstone 500. The 3 hour affair will be contested by 30 starters all battling for the races now standalone prize of the RAC trophy. The RAC trophy dates back to the 1930’s when it was last lifted by the winner of the the Brooklands 500, a race back then seen as one of the showpiece events of the year. Since 2012 Silverstone has it’s own version of the 500 race gaining momentum and attraction year upon year, this years edition will be no different with the addition of that prize of being added to the RAC trophy.

GT4 News

2016 GT4 champions PMW Expo Racing/Optimum enter this race with a brand new McLaren 570s GT4, a big switch from the Ginetta G55 they’ve ran so successfully especially in the last couple of years. 22points behind the leaders it’s seems something had to change, with the Mclaren becoming the choice of the field, the switch should hopefully begin to level the playing field.

We lose one Ginetta but gain another for the race, Ade Barwick and Bradley ellis are running with Optimum in a Ginetta G55 GT4, a car Bradley Ellis knows very well, claiming class wins in the Dubai 24hours with this car as well as a third place in class in 2014 overall.

GT3 News

Mercedes factory Driver Adam Christadoulou joins Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing for the rest of the 2017 season with Martin Short taking a step back from driving duties. The Mercedes outfit slightly struggling with their brand new AMG this year, a competitive machine with potential that should be maximised with the addition of the Factory driver. Christadoulou is no slouch, the 2016 Winner of the Nurburgring 24hours and Blancpain driver for the Black falcon squad, he will certainly add some pace to the car and also guidance on setups for the Rollcentre team to help pull them closer to the top of the championship table.

Century Motorsport returns to British GT with Ginetta Factory Driver Charlie Robertson and Aleksander Schjerpen a complete solid driver line up. Aleksander has plenty of experience with the team and recent Super Trofeo outings teamed with a strong factory driver, Century has the chance to show the teams potential with the Ginetta G55 and a possibility of a good finish in this years Silverstone 500. Its hopeful to see both Century G55 GT3’s back on the grid this season.

Both Practice sessions took part under bright sunshine, only with the temperatures toned down by some strong winds whipping across the Northamptonshire countryside. Teams seemed to struggle with setups in the morning session, finding a ways to tame the blustery conditions.

Team ABBA with Rollcentre took control towards the end of the session when they put their new factory driver in the car, Adam Christadoulou put in the quickest time of the session on lap 21 of their 25 run, with a 2:01.287 the time 0.7 secs clear of Team Parker racing’s No.7 Bentley, the sister car was only 0.2 seconds back.

Free practice 2 wasn’t as quick as practice 1 for the times but some noticeable improvements from Century motorsports Ginetta in the hands of Charlie Robertson putting in a 2:03.040 which placed them third quickest of the session.

After practice then Team Abba with Rollcentre racing has the quickest time so far putting them in prime position for qualifying in the afternoon, only the No.33 Barwell Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in the hands of Phil Keen has broke into the 2:01.000 lap time region.

GT3 Qualifying

All important qualifying begins at 16:05, with short sessions it’s crucial not to lose any time. Green flags are waved for the AM drivers to take to the circuit to set their times, with around 3 laps time plus an out lap, it’s crucial for the AM drivers to not make a mistake.

James Littlejohn sets the quickest of the AM drivers with a 2:01.741 followed by Rick Parfitt with a 2:02.863 and third fastest of the AM drivers was Ian Loggie with a 2:03.070.

A short break between sessions and the cars are back on track with the pro drivers for another 10 minutes.

Christadoulou sets the quickest time of the day, 2:00.312, closely followed by Matt Griffin with a 2:00.441 and Phil keen was third fastest with a 2:00.675.

Combining the times from both sessions it puts the Macmillan AMR Vantage GT3 on pole position, 2nd on the grid is Team parker racing No.31 driven by Seb Morris and Rick Parfitt, 3rd on the grid is the Spirit of Race Ferrari piloted by Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron.

GT4 Qualifying

Invitation entrants Stratton Motorsport with their Lotus Evora is on pole in the GT4 category by over 2 seconds combined time with both Stuart Hall and Gavan Kershaw both doing times in the 2:12.000 region.

2nd on the GT4 grid is HHC Motorsport with their Ginetta G55 driven by William Tregurtha and Stuart Middleton. 3rd will be another invitation entrant of the Toyota GT86 from GPRM piloted by Stefan Hodgetts and James Fletcher.