Hanley Tops Twice Red‑Flagged Silverstone Practice

Overview

• Ben Hanley set the quickest time in Free Practice 1, posting a 1:44.964 in the No. 22 United Autosports ORECA with Job van Uitert about 0.12 seconds behind.
• Organisers stopped the session twice after Pierre‑Alexandre Provost lost a wheel at Woodcote and a multi‑car collision at Becketts that involved Bijoy Garg, Custodio Toledo and PJ Hyett.
• The Becketts incident left the No. 34 Inter Europol ORECA and the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari with heavy front‑end damage, and the No. 50 later did not take part in Free Practice 2.
• Race officials penalised several drivers for red‑flag abuses, including Pietro Fittipaldi, Chun‑Ting Chen and PJ Hyett, increasing pressure on teams to meet sporting rules while repairing cars.
• Close margins across classes — with Louis Iglesias quickest in LMP3 and Tom Sargent leading LMGT3 — mean the tight competition will carry into the Bronze‑driver test and Free Practice 2 as crews cope with repair work and set‑up changes.