Optimum Motorsport set the pace for a second British GT Championship session in succession, with Ben Barnicoat and Morgan Tillbrook’s machine once again going fastest in Pre Qualifying. Barnicoat’s best time of 1m23.503s at Brands Hatch was an improvement of four tenths over his earlier Free Practice leading effort.

Best of the rest was the 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Kevin Tse and Chris Lulham, which lapped the Kent circuit’s Grand Prix layout in a time just under two tenths off the benchmark. The championship leading Lamborghini of Barwell Motorsport’s Rob Collard and Hugo Cook completed the top three.

Behind that, Marcus Clutton was fourth fastest in the Orange Racing by JMH McLaren he shares with Simon Orange, just under four tenths off Barnicoat’s pace. The second 2 Seas Motorsport car, with Todd Kingsford and Aaron Walker on driving duties, was fifth.

Barwell Motorsport’s second Huracan GT3 was sixth, just a handful of hundredths further back with Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski at the controls. And that car’s strongest time was a mere two thousandths clear of the seventh best entrant, Callum Macleod and Mike Price in another Optimum McLaren.

The Century Motorsport BMW of Jonathon Beeson and Charles Clark was eighth, one place ahead of the grid’s sole GT3 Porsche – the Paddock Motorsport example of Martin Plowman and Mark Smith. Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn completed the top 10 in the Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin.

British GT Championship, Pre Qualifying, Brands Hatch

1. Tillbrook/Barnicoat, Optimum Motorsport, McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, 1m23.503s
2. Tse/Lulham, 2 Seas Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, +0.182s
3. Collard/Cook, Barwell Motorsport, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, +0.257s
4. Orange/Clutton, Orange Racing by JMH, McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, +0.391s
5. Kingsford/Walker, 2 Seas Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, +0.510s
6. Martin/Waberski, Barwell Motorsport, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, +0.547s
7. Price/Macleod, Optimum Motorsport, McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, +0.549s
8. Beeson/Clark, Century Motorsport, BMW M4 GT3 Evo, +0.633s
9. Smith/Plowman, Paddock Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R, +0.708s
10. Howard/Gunn, Beechdean Motorsport, Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo, +0.889s

Click here to view full times and results from the weekend.