BGT, Spa – Qualifying Report Moslers Still Strong The two 20-minute qualifying sessions for the British and Belgian GT runners took place on an overcast but still dry Friday afternoon at Spa, with the extra five minutes proving very useful to the #9 Mosler, in particular. Gregor Fisken was the first to set a quick time in the #8 Rollcentre MT900 – 2:32.742 – before being usurped by the sister car of Dan Brown. Eight minutes into the session the Invitation class Ginetta leapt to the top by quite some margin, when Andrew Smith posted a 1:30.096. Three minutes later, Brown responded and came within two tenths of the G50Z’s time; but as time began to run out, pole looked secure on the Ginetta’s and Smith’s debuts. The Team Pyro Preci-Spark Ascari rose to third with 2:30.900 after being a long way off the pace for the first 14 minutes, while Paul Warren was going well in the #3 Chad 430; fastest Ferrari on 2:31.482. As time ran down on the session, it looked as though no improvements were imminent; but the timing screens weren’t giving us the whole picture, after gremlins had caused them to reset a couple of times. As Dan Brown finished his final lap, he stopped the clock at 2:29.566 to snatch pole position, while the Ascari improved to 2:30.232, but stayed third, just ahead of Fisken’s Mosler and Andrew Howard - the Beechdean driver seemingly having suppressed memories of his testing shunt earlier in the year here, to post an impressive 2:30.758. Craig Wilkins finished in sixth in the ABG Viper, with Paul Warren seventh. In GT4, Team WFR’s Jody Firth was comfortably the fastest of the three Ginetta drivers; his 2:42.918, however, coming under pressure at the death when Hunter Abbott posted a 2:43.022.
After a ten-minute break, the faster drivers took over and Oliver Bryant opened his account in the G50Z with a 2:29.842, improving on his next lap to 2:28.388. His efforts were overshadowed, alas, by the presence – a few seconds behind the Ginetta – of Allan Simonsen in the Rosso Verde Ferrari; who started with a 2:28.088, and followed up with a 2:26.396. So commanding was the Dane’s lead, that he parked up at the end of lap three and changed into his Hankook overalls in readiness for LMS Practice.
Aaron Scott was enjoying his time in the ABG Viper, with his third-fastest 2:28.490 soon becoming a second-fastest 2:28.004.
The Moslers appeared subdued in this session, with the #Martin Short version third on 2:28.336 and the Stuart Hall car only fifth on 2:28.826. Was there more to come in the race, or is this the impact of the post-Oulton performance-balancing? Nigel Moore again took GT4 pole for Team WFR with a 2:39.694. The most significant aspect of qualifying, however, was the relative speed of the Belgian runners. Local knowledge is certainly an asset, but is Vincent Vosse really six seconds faster than Jamie Smyth round Spa in a DBRS9 prepared by the same team as the British driver? And is Jeffrey van Hooydonk really three and a half seconds faster in his KRK Viper than Aaron Scott is in his ABG Dodge Coupe? More likely, the significant gulf between the Michelin and Avon control tyres has been very well illustrated. | 
