+ Century’s BMW beats Barwell’s Lamborghinis
+ Disqualifications deny Ginetta front row lockout
+ Qualifying results
Century’s Jonathon Beeson and Charles Clark claimed their maiden British GT Championship pole positions at Donington Park where Revie Lake and Blake Angliss (Paddock Motorsport) inherited GT4 top spot from the Innovation and Toro Verde GT Ginettas.
The BMW that topped Free Practice didn’t pace either of GT3’s qualifying sessions but was consistently quick enough to beat Barwell’s Lamborghini shared by Rob Collard and Hugo Cook by 0.066s in the combined times. Series debutant Chris Lulham (2 Seas) denied Clark the fastest individual lap by posting a 1m25.528s on his final tour.
Three of the first five, including the pole-winning car, comprise Silver-Am driver combinations, while GT3’s two leading championship protagonists – Alex Martin and Jarrod Waberski (Barwell), and Morgan Tillbrook and Ben Barnicoat (Optimum) – share row two.
GT4 pole, on the road at least, was claimed by Hadley Simpson and Thomas Holland after they beat the similar G56 shared by Luke Shaw and Jack Mitchell by a combined 0.064s. However, subsequent disqualifications that also included Innovation’s #5 Ginetta promoted Paddock’s McLaren and made 16-year-old Lake one of British GT’s youngest-ever pole winners.
A ride height infringement initially cost #74 pole before separately the same car, #42 and #5 were all found to have breached the same technical regulation. They will start Sunday’s race from the pitlane.
Two of this year’s title contenders therefore move up to second and third. As well as claiming Pro-Am bragging rights Grange/FSR’s Daniel Lavery and Darren Turner share Donington’s revised front row with Paddock, while MK’s similar Aston Martin shared by points’ leaders Jessica Hawkins and Will Orton line up third.
GT3: BM FOR THE W?
Century’s M4 GT3 last won at Donington in 2022 and put itself in prime position to do so again thanks to Beeson and Clark who were on the pace from Saturday’s opening session.
However, the star of Q1 was undoubtedly Marc Warren who topped a GT3 qualifying session for the second event in succession. His Optimum McLaren set fastest time on three occasions before establishing a 0.1s advantage over a chasing pack headed by Collard, who improved on his final lap.
Beeson, meanwhile, ended up third after twice leading the way, and was crucially just 0.134s shy of Warren’s time.
Reigning champion Charles Dawson set the fourth fastest time for 2 Seas, Alex Martin finished fifth, and Morgan Tillbrook and Kevin Tse completed an initial top seven split by as many tenths.
That gave their respective pros an excellent opportunity to make significant gains, but also potentially drop down the order.
Ben Barnicoat has been rapid all year and set the initial pace before Clark hit the front individually and overall with four of Q2’s 10 minutes remaining. His primary challengers were Optimum’s McLaren and Lulham who were on course to end the session separated by just 0.007s before 2 Seas’ Mercedes-AMG posted the weekend’s fastest time on its final tour.
But that personal achievement had no impact on the combined times where Century’s BMW remained 0.066s clear of Barwell’s #63 Lamborghini, which finished Q2 fourth in Cook’s hands.
Row two is shared by this year’s leading championship contenders Martin/Waberski and Tillbrook/Barnicoat who have the maximum 20 seconds of Compensation Time to contend with on Sunday, while Warren and Jack Brown slipped to fifth in the final reckoning.
Lulham’s lap moved 2 Seas’ #18 Mercedes-AMG up a place to sixth at the expense of team-mates Dawson and Aaron Walker, and eighth went the way Orange/JMH’s Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton.
GT4: PADDOCK PROFITS FROM GINETTA DQ
Paddock Motorsport pairing Revie Lake and Blake Angliss will start tomorrow’s race from pole despite their McLaren Artura originally qualifying third behind the Innovation and Toro Verde Ginettas that respectively topped Q1 and Q2.
The path to what would have been Innovation’s third pole of the season was laid by Hadley Simpson who established a half-second advantage over Q1’s chasing pack.
His co-driver Thomas Holland then battled some lurid moments and a track limits offence to initially post only the seventh fastest Q2 time. By contrast, Jack Mitchell had the Toro Verde G56 on rails and quickly forged his own 0.5s gap over the rest. His efforts built on co-driver Luke Shaw’s run to fourth in Q1 and put the overall combined result on a knife edge.
Holland regrouped sufficiently to then go P4 in the session and re-take provisional pole by 0.064s from Mitchell and Shaw, who provisionally remained on course for the Pro-Am spoils.
But that all changed post-qualifying when Lake and Angliss were promoted from third, while the likes of Daniel Lavery/Darren Turner and Jessica Hawkins/Will Orton also moved up two places.
Josh Stanton and George Gamble start Optimum’s McLaren from fourth after also losing a lap time to track limits. As Snetterton winners, they must serve the maximum Compensation Time during Sunday’s pitstop.
Century’s BMW of Branden Templeton and Jack Collins heads up row three alongside WSR Flexifly’s Ernie Graham and Colin Turkington who set Q2’s third fastest time.