British GT, Rockingham - Qualifying Report
United & Trackspeed Start From The Front

21 cars took part in the two 15-minute qualifying sessions late on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, we had lost the Rollcentre Ginetta G55 after the team identified the engine problem that had curtailed its second Free Practice session and decided not to risk any further damage; preferring instead to withdraw from the meeting and concentrate on development away from the track ahead of the forthcoming Donington round.

The better news was that the sun had at last come out over the Motor Speedway.

Q1

Mike Lyons’ #5 Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari 458 was the first car out of the pitlane at the start of the session, but an error at Deene allowed Gregor Fisken to go by and it was the #2 Trackspeed Porsche that set the first benchmark – 1:23.188. Clearly this wasn’t going to remain unbeaten for long and the Scot went 2.2s faster on his next lap. Lyons recovered from his error to go second, with David Ashburn third in the #1 Trackspeed Porsche.

The fight for GT4 pole was destined to be an eventful one, with Dan Denis setting a 1:25.398 in the early moments of the session in the #50 Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta G50.

Mike Guasch was always going to feature prominently in Qualifying after two encouraging Free Practice sessions, and it wasn’t long before the #23 Audi was posting fastest sector times; and when the third dot turned purple, the R8 had moved to the top of the times with a 1:20.394 – and improved again the next time around.

Lyons managed to secure a front-row starting place in the #5, while the two Trackspeed Porsches locked out Row 2. All four leading cars would end their sessions with several minutes still remaining.

Andrew Tate and Duncan Cameron appeared to be struggling in their Ferraris during the opening stages, being in 18th and 14th positions respectively at the midway point, but both improved as the final five minutes approached. The #21 MTECH 458 jumped to sixth, while the #11 CRS car claimed tenth. David Jones placed the #22 Preci-Spark Mercedes SLS on the third row, alongside Cameron.

Phil Burton found himself immediately in brake trouble as the session started and was forced to pit after two laps. Some quick adjustments allowed him to claim 14th by the close.

The GT4 lead changed a number of times during the quarter hour. Jake Rattenbury, in the #42 Century Motorsports Ginetta, and Freddy Nordstrom’s #49 Lotus Evora both demoted the Scuderia Vittoria G50 before Dan Denis regained the upper hand with a 1:24.884 – the top four cars in the class being covered by half a second. Peter Belshaw was unable to break the 1:26 mark in the ABG KTM X-Bow and would start the race from the back row.

Q2

After a short break, the cars took to the track once more; this time with the second drivers behind the wheel.

Tim Bridgman was clearly a man in a hurry – overtaking a Ferrari on his outlap – and managed to secure pole for Race 2 in the #2 Trackspeed Porsche with his first flier; his 1:18.494 remaining a third of a second clear throughout the session.

Matt Bell came closest to deposing the Porsche with a 1:18.831 in the #23 Audi, but a double-pole remained beyond the reach of United Autosports.

Several contenders for pole appeared to stymie their chances by lapping in a group – Alex Mortimer (#10 CRS Ferrari 458), Phil Keen (#1 Trackspeed Porsche) and Charles Bateman (#5 Scuderia Vittoria 458) all getting in each others way when their tyres were at their best. Mortimer would claim third, but Keen only managed fifth despite a last-gasp effort on a clear track.

Matt Griffin improved to fourth by the end, but it was clearly no easy matter in the #21 MTECH Ferrari. The Irish driver was labouring down in 21st after six minutes, before improving to sixth at the halfway point. His fourth-place time came on his next lap.

Allan Simonsen was the first to pit, from sixth place in the #3 Rosso Verde Ferrari Scuderia, and he was soon joined by several other cars. As the session neared its end, only the #24 Audi of John Bintcliffe was still circulating of the leading cars. The clearer track enabled him to move from tenth to ninth to eighth by the end, just behind the #10 CRS Ferrari of Glynn Geddie. Keen rejoined the track with just under two minutes to go, but his single flying lap was probably one too few.

Aaron Scott managed to get the GT3B MTECH Ferrari 430 ahead of the two surviving Ginetta G55s before parking up, while Adam Wilcox had the troubled #12 CCTV Predator Ferrari as high as sixth at one point, before slipping to 12th by the end.

GT4 saw a second pole for Scuderia Vittoria, as David McDonald beat a determined Phil Glew to the top spot. Marcus Clutton had led the class initially in the #44 X-Bow, but it wasn’t long before Glew had the #48 Evora on provisional pole. McDonald wasn’t having any of it though and hit back with a 1:24.288 to secure pole by 0.387s.

MH