Ben Barker fired a first warning shot to his fellow Porsche Carrera Cup GB competitors as he topped the timesheets at Snetterton today.
Seven-tenths covered the top eight drivers as Barker set the fastest time of 1:52.691 just a fifth of a second ahead of Sam Tordoff and Daniel Lloyd. “I came into the weekend knowing what I had to do and we know we’ve got a good set up here,” said Barker. Tordoff added “We tested here in the break and had a good couple of days, so we were ready this morning.”
Porsche scholar Lloyd used a set of fresh tyres early on in the session as he worked to get the perfect set up for the weekend ahead. “We did the time and then played with the set up. The important thing is that we got the car spot on,”
Championship leaders Jonas Gelzinis and Michael Meadows were fourth and fifth with Rory Butcher, Andy Meyrick and Richard Plant rounded out the top eight. Meyrick makes his series debut this weekend at Snetterton and was a little disappointed with his times. “It’s a case of just trying to put it all together and I didn’t get the best out of the new tyres,” he said
Meanwhile in the Pro-Am1 category Michael Leonard topped the times after Ahmad Al Harthy topped the session in the opening stages. “I didn’t think I’d be that far up,” admitted Leonard. “There’s more time to come,” he added. Derek Pierce, Al Harthy, Oly Mortimer and Victor Jimenez followed as the session closed.
Tania Mann returned to the series after missing two race weekends and topped the times for Pro-Am2 finishing a second ahead of rival Will Goff.
Combined classification
POS NO CL NAME NAT ENTRY TIME 1 20 P Ben BARKER GBR Parr Motorsport 1:52.691 2 7 P Sam TORDOFF GBR Team Parker Racing 1:52.879 3 23 P Daniel LLOYD GBR Team Parker Racing 1:52.989 4 8 P Jonas GELZINIS LTU Juta Racing 1:53.067 5 0 P Michael MEADOWS GBR Redline Racing 1:53.292 6 45 P Rory BUTCHER GBR Celtic Speed 1:53.388 7 18 P Andy MEYRICK GBR Team Parker Racing 1:53.395 8 5 P Richard PLANT GBR Team Parker Racing 1:53.412 9 00 P Glynn GEDDIE GBR Redline Racing 1:54.182 10 17 PA1 Michael LEONARD IRL Team Parker Racing 1:54.462 11 24 PA1 Derek PIERCE GBR Team Parker Racing 1:54.632 12 77 PA1 Ahmad AL HARTHY OMA Oman Air Redline Racing 1:54.679 13 70 PA1 Oly MORTIMER GBR GT Marques 1:54.798 14 25 PA1 Victor JIMÉNEZ ESP Oman Air Redline Racing 1:54.936 15 99 PA1 Keith WEBSTER GBR Marque 1 Redline Racing 1:55.398 16 29 PA1 Yücel ÖZBEK TUR Marque 1 Redline Racing 1:56.244 17 47 PA1 Fraser O'BRIEN GBR GT Marques 1:56.478 18 15 PA2 Tania MANN AUS sibsport performance 1:57.207 19 59 PA2 Will GOFF GBR Goff Racing 1:58.316
