Jack Mitchell claimed his and the Macmillan AMR team’s first ever pole position for race one Sunday at Snetterton with Phil Keen taking pole for the days second race on behalf of the Barwell Demon Tweeks Lamborghini Hurracan Squad.
In GT4 it was Alex Reed’s Ginetta claiming pole for Lanan racing before Joe Osbourne took pole for Toleman in the second GT4 session.
Mitchell was pleased to break his British GT pole duck;
“That makes up for what happened at Oulton! We’re getting better with every lap and I now feel a lot more comfortable. Actually, I was a bit shocked by the time because we hadn’t run new tyres this weekend up until that point. So I was really happy with that. We took plenty of confidence from our Rockingham podium, but also learnt plenty on the old tyres there. With the success penalty it’s important to build a gap at the start before handing over to James [Littlejohn – his team mate].”
Phil Keen seemed cautiously optimistic;
“One-lap pace is clearly there and we need to build on that for the race. We’ll see where we are at the end of Race 1 – we don’t have a success penalty so by starting second it’s reasonable to assume we’ll be somewhere near the front without any problems. But obviously that has a knock-on effect for me starting Race 2. We really do just have to wait and see.”
Alex Reed was pleased with his efforts at his local circuit;
“Two years in a row: I don’t call it my home circuit for nothing! I’m really chuffed – it’s an ideal situation for us because we really needed pole for the first race when we don’t have a success penalty, hopefully do well and then take Race 2 as it comes. We’re chasing the championship lead here so a big thanks to the team for making it happen in qualifying. We had no problems at all.”
Joe Osbourne put his pole down to the Tolman team;
“It’s the car and hard work Tolman have put into it that’s taken pole position today. I thought my lap was pretty average so I think the time’s down to the Tolman boys. They make my life easier! We’ve been a bit unlucky so far this year – the damage in Race 2 at Oulton was unfortunate and the Safety Car screwed us at Rockingham. But as we’re starting at the front tomorrow hopefully we’re more in charge of our own destiny.”
The championship’s sole female racer this season, Anna Walewska starts tenth and fourteenth for the two races with her new team mate Nathan Freke who has transferred from one of Centruy Motorsports withdrawn GT3 entries for this weekend.
The first one hour race begins at 11:40 on Sunday with the second taking place at 16:00. Watch them both live on Front Runner TV as well as the British GT Facebook page and website. Tickets are also available on the gate at Snetterton if you want to come along.
The full grid and times are available from TSL timing
http://www.tsl-timing.com/event/172105
LAP RECORDS
GT3: 1m48.579s – Phil Keen – Barwell Motorsport – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 – 2016
GT4: 1m58.704s – Matthew George – Generation AMR SuperRacing – Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 – 2016
PITSTOP SUCCESS PENALTIES – RACE 1
GT3
10s – #31 Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental GT3 – Parfitt Jnr/Morris
07s – #21 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GT3 – Cameron/Griffin
05s – #24 Macmillan AMR Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 – Mitchell/Littlejohn
GT4
10s – #55 HHC Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 – Tregurtha/Middleton
07s – #100 Black Bull Garage 59 McLaren 570S GT4 – Mitchell/Haggerty
05s – #501 PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 – Johnson/Robinson
SNETTERTON SCHEDULE
Sunday 28 May
09:30 – 09:40: Warm-up
11:40 – 12:40: Race 1
16:00 – 17:00: Race 2 By Marc Waller
