British GT, Knockhill – Sunday Morning
An Eventful Qualifying Saturday’s sunny conditions had been replaced with a mostly cloudy sky on Sunday morning in Fife, but – for now – the rain was keeping a discrete distance as the first of the two qualifying sessions began at the ungodly time of 08:50 (an unfeasibly large breakfast at his Dunfermline B&B preventing your scribe from arriving on time). All 15 cars were present and correct as the session began; but again, this wasn’t to end without casualties. David Jones moved to the top of the times midway through the session in the Preci-Spark Ascari and stayed there to the end of the session. In second, a third of a second behind, was Chris Hyman in the #21 Ferrari; indicating just how well this weekend was going for the STP-back car after a frustrating OultonPark. Phil Burton placed the CCTV Predator Scuderia on the second row with a 51.369 – confirming that the possibility of this team claiming a first win here is very real. David Ashburn, in the now repaired Trackspeed Porsche (a cracked exhaust, not gearbox, being the damage from the second practice session), was fourth – again belying his ‘Lead’ status – while Juan Garriz was finally getting to grips with the circuit and claiming an excellent fifth on the grid in the older Ferrari. Duncan Cameron didn’t have such a good morning; losing the rear end of his #2 MTECH Scuderia over the SEAT kerbs and sliding sideways into the Leslie’s barriers and removing the rear bodywork and diffuser. The session was not delayed, but the team had to work frantically to get Matt Griffin out to qualify for his race. Also rather unhappy was Craig Wilkins. The GT3 Racing Viper was suffering with a brake problem and he flat-spotted a tyre as he attempted to overcome this. He ended his session a most-unrepresentative three seconds off pole in tenth, just behind Steve Hunter’s GTC Porsche. Hector Lester also had a misfire issue that required a pit-visit and which left him in eighth. In G4 Jamie Stanley atoned for his trip across the grass on Saturday (which resulted in damage to the Speedworks Ginetta’s bodywork) by taking pole for the first race, just ahead of the Chris Bialan-pedalled Lotus. The second session began five minutes after the first ended, with MTECH still working on the car in the pits. Glynn Geddie was the first driver to go sub-51 seconds, 50.910, in the Trackspeed Porsche, using his local knowledge to the full, but Adam Wilcox lowered that time to a 50.289 midway through the quarter-hour. This sparked off a sequence of horse-trading involving Wilcox, Geddie, Tom Ferrier and Godfrey Jones that continued to the end; each chipping away at their times by a few tenths per lap and causing the positions to change on a regular basis. By the end though, Wilcox had dropped below 50 seconds (49.903 being his pole time) and the Preci Spark Ascari was two tenths behind in second. Ferrier was a further tenth behind in third, while Geddie took fourth – again a tenth slower than the car in front. Stephane Daoudi was just 0.027s behind the Scot in fifth, while Dan Brown had to overcome a misfire to record a sixth-fastest 50.599. Matt Griffin missed the first six minutes of the session, but managed a seventh fastest 50.943; despite the not-inconsiderable inconvenience of no rear downforce on account of the damaged diffuser and despite the car’s four wheels not all pointing in the same direction. And things were just as close in G4, with one second covering the five cars. Nathan Freke managed to demote the X-Bow of Rory Butcher to second with a late effort, but the Lotus was hampered by a throttle problem that would threaten its participation in the race. As race time approached, spots of wet stuff were beginning to fall from the air… MH | 
