Alex Reed secured his and Lanan Racing’s maiden GT4 pole positions for British GT's opening one-hour race at Snetterton tomorrow before Ross Gunn put Beechdean AMR top of the pile for the start of race two.
GT4 Am: Reed in a class of his own
Like Farmer in GT3, Alex Reed claimed his and Lanan Racing’s maiden British GT pole position just four weeks after winning for the first time at Spa.
The Ginetta driver recorded two times quick enough to secure top spot, first deposing Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse’s Sandy Mitchell before making sure on the following lap. Ultimately his 1m57.809s was fast enough to beat championship leader Graham Johnson by 0.305s after the PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport G55 also leapfrogged the 570S.
Mitchell, who was aiming to make it three consecutive poles this weekend, eventually wound up just 0.032s further back in third. However, he was also the thick end of a second faster than namesake (but no relation) Jack Mitchell in the Generation AMR Macmillan Racing Aston Martin.
Title contender Jack Bartholomew, joined for the first time this weekend by reigning class champion Ross Gunn, will need to move forward from fifth if he’s to make inroads into Johnson’s points lead, while RCIB Insurance Racing pairing William Phillips and Aaron Mason line up sixth and seventh.
Marcus Hoggarth’s Maserati made it four manufacturers inside the top-eight ahead of Sean Byrne’s Century Motorsport Ginetta, which missed FP1 thanks to an engine change. Team-mate Anna Walewska was 10th, one place and less than three tenths clear of Paul Hollywood.
Alex Reed, #51 Lanan Racing Ginetta G55 GT4: “That wasn’t at all expected! Since Spa we’ve made one tiny change and the car feels perfect right now. That’s the long and the short of it. Joey being P3 in the Pro session proves it was no fluke and we were also the best Ginetta in both qualifying groups. That’s important for us. We’re not really looking at the championship but if we can get third that would be a great first season.”
GT4 Pro: Gunn shows his class
Matthew George’s searing practice pace suggested he and the Generation AMR SuperRacing Aston Martin would be the combination to beat in GT4 Pro qualifying, but in the end it was reigning champion Ross Gunn who stole the show.
George made the early running but was soon usurped by Gunn who initially lapped 0.378s faster. However, a concern over whether that lap would be deleted for a track limits violation stirred the Beechdean AMR ace into further action and the subsequent 1m56.710s effort that would ultimately secure him pole by 0.505s.
Any hope George had of closing that gap ended early, along with the session, in the barriers but the SuperRacing driver can be happy with a place on the first row following his and the team’s best showing of the season so far.
Joey Foster backed up co-driver Reed’s earlier pace by netting third for Lanan Racing, but only by 0.025s over Bradley Ellis who, like Gunn, is back in the category this weekend for the first time since last season. Mike Robinson completed the Ginetta train in fifth, while Ciaran Haggerty’s McLaren lines up sixth.
Matthew Graham and Jamie Chadwick completed the top-eight.
Ross Gunn, #407 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4: “I was quite surprised when they told me the gap because I didn’t feel like my first lap was that quick. But then I was told about the track limits violation so knew I’d need to go again and do a better job. The car was absolutely on rails - the complete opposite to practice when we were fighting a few gremlins. The GT4’s like a comfy pair of slippers really so coming back to the class this weekend isn’t a big change for me. I shake down the cars a lot for Beechdean so everything felt very familiar straight away.”
The first of tomorrow’s one-hour British GT races at Snetterton gets underway at 11:50.
Click here to see the full race one qualifying classification and here for race two's.