Salikhov puts Rinaldi Ferrari on top as bronze test kicks off Blancpain GT Series weekend at Silverstone

Salikhov puts Rinaldi Ferrari on top as bronze test kicks off Blancpain GT Series weekend at Silverstone

Rinat Salikhov has topped the bronze test ahead of this weekend's Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup race at Silverstone.

The Russian driver put his #333 Rinaldi Ferrari 488 at the head of the order with a lap of 2m01.407s, while the #188 Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage was second quickest thanks to Chris Goodwin.

A total of 16 cars were on-track during the one-hour session, which represented the first running as part of the Silverstone event. Prior to this, official testing was conducted throughout Thursday and on Friday morning at the Northamptonshire venue.

The bronze test marks the beginning of a busy weekend at Silverstone, which stages the third round of the Blancpain GT Series and the second on the Endurance Cup calendar. The first full-field session will take place tomorrow, with a 90-minute free practice getting underway at 10.45 BST. This will be followed at 15.45, when pre-qualifying gives drivers another 90 minutes of running on the 5.9km circuit.

Blancpain GT Series competitors will get down to serious business on Sunday, beginning at 09.45 with qualifying. This will set the grid for the weekend's main event, a three-hour race that kicks off at 15.00.

There will be further support action across the weekend from Formula Renault Eurocup and Lamborghini Super Trofeo, with both series staging races on Saturday and Sunday.