Pre-Qualifying Highlights from Spa-Francorchamps: Kirchhöfer Sets Pace in British GT
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium – In an intense pre-qualifying session for the British GT Championship, Marvin Kirchhöfer emerged as the fastest driver, clocking a remarkable 2:17.050 in the #77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren GT3 Evo. The competitive session saw the top seven drivers separated by less than a second, showcasing the tight battle for front-row positions.
Kirchhöfer’s teammate, Morgan Tillbrook, led much of the session prior to Kirchhöfer’s late-time attack. Marcus Clutton in the #67 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren briefly held the top spot before settling for second with a time of 2:17.320.
Key Results:
- Marvin Kirchhöfer (#77 Optimum Motorsport) – 2:17.050
- Marcus Clutton (#67 Orange Racing) – 2:17.320
- Sam Neary (#8 Abba Racing) – 2:17.601
- Hugo Cook (#1 Barwell Motorsport) – 2:17.622
- Tom Wood (#97 Beechdean Aston Martin) – 2:17.694
- Matt Griffin (#55 Spirit of Race) – 2:17.862
- Patrick Kujula (#78 Barwell Lamborghini) – 2:17.971
- Kevin Tse (#18 2 Seas Motorsport) – 2:18.731
- Jonny Adam (#7 Blackthorn Aston Martin) – 2:18.921
- Kevin Macleod (#3 Optimum Motorsport) – 2:19.115
In the GT4 category, reigning champion Jack Brown marked his presence with the fastest time, driving the #90 Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 to a 2:29.118. Charlie Robertson in the #71 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 Evo followed closely with a 2:29.342 but faced penalties for track limit violations, which have plagued the session.
GT4 Top Results:
- Jack Brown (#90 Optimum Motorsport) – 2:29.118
- Charlie Robertson (#71 Century Motorsport) – 2:29.342
- Jack Mitchell (#84 Mahiki Racing) – 2:29.444
- Harry George (#17 Optimum Motorsport) – 2:29.569
- Blake Angeliss (#69 Mahiki Racing) – 2:29.841
Notably, championship leader Kiern Jewiss experienced an incident during Free Practice, impacting his pre-qualifying performance due to repairs after front-end contact with Matt Topham’s McLaren.
Qualifying is set to begin at 18:35 local time (17:35 BST), with teams preparing for a highly competitive session ahead.
