After a busy couple of weeks for the BTCC support paddock in which the Brands Hatch season opener was followed by the early TOCA test at Thruxton ahead of next month’s racing, attentions turned today (16th April) to Donington Park and official testing ahead of this weekend’s second meeting of the season.
With the Leicestershire circuit unable to have three days of track action in a row, the traditional Friday testing was moved forward a day with drivers in action from MSA Formula, Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup, Ginetta Junior Championship and Renault UK Clio Cup – with the Porsche Carrera Cup GB skipping Donington.
Ginetta GT4 Supercup
Jamie Orton and HHC Motorsport set the pace at Brands Hatch and that proved to be the case again today, with a best time of 1m 09.853s seeing him finish the day a quarter of a second ahead of team-mate Carl Breeze.
Century Motorsport’s Tom Oliphant split the HHC runners in third, 0.076s further back from Breeze, with Will Burns in fourth as the only driver in the top seven not to set his best time in the day’s second session. Michael Caine, Mitchell and the returning Rob Boston were next up, with Bradley Smith, Tom Wrigley and Bradley Ellis completing a top ten split by 1.008s.
Full timing can be found here.
Renault UK Clio Cup
Fresh from topping the timesheets at Thruxton last week, Ash Hand led the way at Donington despite mechanical gremlins halting his morning run. Hand’s best time of 1m 16.622s just edged out his Pyro team-mate Ashley Sutton by 0.017s, with Brands winner Ant Whorton-Eales three tenths of a second further back.
Brett Smith took fourth, despite missing the afternoon session after a spin whilst warming up his tyres led to contact with Paul Rivett that heavily damaged both cars. Rivett was left down in eighth behind Jordan Stilp, Jack Mitchell and Freddie Hunt, the top eight split by 0.976s, with Dan Holland, Charlie Ladell and Rory Collingbourne close behind.
Full timing can be found here.
Ginetta Juniors
Two of the Junior stars from Brands Hatch headed the times today, with rookie Patrik Matthiesen edging out race-winner Billy Monger by 0.037s thanks to a best time of 1m 24.061s. Four rookies ended the day in the top six, with Dave Wooder, Sophia Floersch and Stuart Middleton all finishing up within three tenths of a second of the pace-setter alongside Jamie Caroline.
TCR duo Matt Chapman and Cameron Roberts had an impressive day to complete the top eight, whilst a competitive day of running saw Dan Zelos and Senna Proctor left at the bottom of the top ten despite lapping within half a second of the best time.
Full timing can be found here.
MSA Formula
Championship leader Dan Ticktum continued his fine start to the season by topping the timesheets in the 22 car field, a best time of 1m 07.616s in the second of the day’s three sessions putting him on top. James Pull, Ricky Collard and Lando Norris were close behind within three tenths of a second.
Sennan Fielding was fifth fastest on a circuit he won at in BRDC F4 last year ahead of Dan Baybutt, Jack Barlow, Petru Florescu and Matheus Leist, who rounded out a top nine split by less than half a second. Gustavo Myasava completed the top ten despite damaging his car on the Donington kerbs early on.
You can read our full report on the MSA Formula test here. Full timing can be found here.
