Blancpain GT Silverstone: Laurens Vanthoor fastest in practice
WRT Audi driver Laurens Vanthoor topped the times in free practice for Sunday's Blancpain Endurance Series encounter at Silverstone
Vanthoor, who is bidding for a third victory on successive weekends with the WRT squad after his Brands Hatch Blancpain Sprint Series win and then his triumph in the Nurburbring 24 Hours, set a best time of 2m01.097s early in the second of the two practice sessions.
That time aboard the Audi R8 LMS ultra he shares with Robin Frijns and Jean-Karl Vernay put him just under a tenth up on the 2m01.180s set by Franck Perera aboard the Pro-Am class TDS Racing BMW Z4 GT3.
The top two were half a second ahead of third-placed Markus Winkelhock, who ended up on a 2m01.688s in the solo Phoenix Audi R8.
Fourth place went to the factory Grasser Lamborghini Huracan driven by Mirko Bortolotti on a 2m01.731s, while Kevin Estre took fifth in the best of the VonRyan Racing McLaren 650S GT3s on a 2m01.749s.
Qualifying for the second round of the BES round begins at 8am UK time on Sunday.
LEADING POSITIONS
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J-K.Vernay, R.Frijns, L.Vanthoor | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 2m01.097s | 34 |
| 2 | E.Dermont, F.Perera, H.Hassid | TDS Racing | BMW | 0.083s | 33 |
| 3 | S.Thong, M.Lee, M.Winkelhock | Phoenix Racing | Audi | 0.591s | 30 |
| 4 | G.Venturini, A.Zaugg, M.Bortolotti | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 0.634s | 30 |
| 5 | S.Gisbergen, R.Bell, K.Estre | Von Ryan Racing | McLaren | 0.652s | 28 |
| 6 | P.Wilson, S.Leonard, M.Meadows | Leonard Motorsport | Aston Martin | 0.669s | 36 |
| 7 | N.Bastian, S.Dusseldorp, K.Graf | Rowe Racing | Mercedes | 0.714s | 27 |
| 8 | L.Machitski, T.Sardarov, J.Cocker | Team Russia by Barwell | BMW | 0.895s | 33 |
| 9 | N.Lapierre, A.Q.-Hobbs, A.Parente | Von Ryan Racing | McLaren | 0.943s | 25 |
| 10 | A.Vasiliev, K.Al-Azhari, M.Asmer | GT Russian Team | Mercedes | 0.944s | 33 |
| 11 | K.Chiyo, W.Reip, A.Buncombe | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 1.006s | 23 |
| 12 | P.Gaillard, D.Hallyday, J.Nash | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1.049s | 33 |
| 13 | F.Stippler, S.Richelmi, S.Ortelli | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1.071s | 32 |
| 14 | S.Walkinshaw, M.Plowman, C.Dolby | MRS GT Racing | Nissan | 1.120s | 32 |
| 15 | A.Al Harthy, J.Adam, D.Lloyd | Oman Racing Team | Aston Martin | 1.166s | 29 |
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