The pre-qualifying session for the Silverstone round of the Blancpain GT Series was again a close affair, with the fastest cars separated by less than one tenth of a second. The competitiveness of the Series was also shown in the diversity of the cars at the front of the field, with six different brands occupying the first seven positions. The fastest time was set early in the session, by Audi-driver Laurens Vanthoor.
Just like after the Free Practice session on Saturday morning it was an Audi of the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT who topped the standings after the Pre-Qualifying session. The 2'01.097 set by Laurens Vanthoor proved to be enough to claim the top spot, although Franck Perera - last year's polesitter - came to within 0.082 of the Belgian's time, at the wheel of the #12 TDS Racing BMW.
Markus Winkelhock completed the top-3 in the #6 Phoenix Racing Audi, but he was closely followed by a Lamborghini (#63 GRT Grasser Racing Team), McLaren (#58 Von Ryan Racing), Aston Martin (#32 Leonard Motorsport AMR) and Mercedes (#99 Rowe Racing). That makes for six different brands in the top seven.
The Pro-Am drivers - Perera being the quickest of them - were again among the frontrunners, with four cars of the category in the top-10 overall. A repeat of the Monza-scenario - where four Pro-Am cars finished inside the top-10 - is therefore still a possibility.
In the Am Cup things were almost as close. Just like this morning the #16 Akka ASP Ferrari headed the 14 cars-strong Am Cup field, but that was only 0.035 of a second quicker than the #24 Team Parker Racing Audi. Diversity ruled in the Am Cup as well, with the #28 Delahaye Racing Team Porsche setting the third fastest time in the category.
Action starts tomorrow at 09:00 with the Qualifying Session.
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Weekend Schedule
Saturday 23 May
09:00 - 10:00 Bronze Test
10:55 - 12:25 Free Practice
16:30 - 18:00 Pre-Qualifying
Sunday 24 May
09:00 - 10:00 Qualifying
14:45 - 17:45 Main Race
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