Macmillan AMR’s James Littlejohn and Jack Mitchell claimed pole position for tomorrow’s three-hour, blue riband British GT race – the Silverstone 500 – after out-pacing Team Parker Racing’s Rick Parfitt Jnr and Seb Morris by a combined 0.092s earlier today.
Meanwhile, in GT4, HHC Motorsport’s championship leaders Will Tregurtha and Stuart Middleton enjoyed a combined three-tenth margin over Black Bull Garage 59’s Sandy Mitchell and Ciaran Haggerty en route to their second pole of the 2017 campaign.
British GT’s two-part qualifying session once again delivered a tight scrap for outright pole, and one that was ultimately decided by less than a tenth under overcast skies at Silverstone.
Macmillan AMR’s Jack Mitchell claimed his and the team’s maiden pole at Snetterton two weeks ago, but this time it was Silver Cup co-driver Littlejohn’s turn to tackle British GT’s Am contingent in the first 10-minute session. And he duly delivered to initially give the Aston Martin a 1.1s lead over Rick Parfitt Jnr’s Team Parker Racing Bentley and the sister Continental GT3 driven by Ian Loggie.
However, Macmillan AMR’s V12 Vantage is balanced with weight to even out its natural edge over the Pro/Am crews. That was perfectly illustrated at the start of the second session when Mitchell slipped behind Morris, who’d taken over Parfitt Jnr’s Bentley. However, Mitchell wasn’t finished and improved his time on the following tour to pinch pole by less than a tenth.
Duncan Cameron ended the Am session seventh fastest but starts tomorrow’s race third thanks to co-driver Matt Griffin’s superb effort aboard the Spirit of Race Ferrari 488. The pair were a combined 0.644s shy of pole but slender 0.021s faster than Barwell Motorsport’s Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen thanks to the Irishman setting the session’s second quickest overall time.
Barwell’s championship-leading Lamborghini completes the second row at the expense of Loggie and Callum Macleod, who slipped from third in the first session to fifth in the final results after their Bentley suffered an intermittent loss of power.
Adam Christodoulou set the session’s fastest individual time – 2m00.312s – to help Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing and Richard Neary claim their best-ever GT3 qualifying result. They’re joined aboard the Mercedes-AMG tomorrow by Martin Short, who will be making his final British GT appearance.
Both TF Sport Aston Martins struggled. Reigning champions Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam line-up seventh, and Mark Farmer and John Barnes ninth after sandwiching Liam Griffin and Sam Tordoff’s Barwell Lamborghini in the final results.
Century’s Ginetta and AMDTuning.com’s Mercedes-AMG complete the GT3 runners in 10th and 11th.
HHC Motorsport’s Will Tregurtha and Stuart Middleton produced an accomplished qualifying performance to claim a fully deserved second GT4 class pole of the season ahead of championship rivals Sandy Mitchell and Ciaran Haggerty.
It was the consistency rather than outright speed of HHC’s Ginetta duo that ultimately saw them home after lapping within two tenths of each other’s times. First up was Middleton, who stamped his authority on the session by going 0.5s faster than nearest rival Haggerty, while another of this season’s championship protagonists – Lanan Racing’s Alex Reed – was a further four tenths further back.
Tregurtha subsequently lost his head-to-head battle with Mitchell but still lapped sufficiently swiftly to seal pole by 0.348s from Black Bull Garage 59’s all-Scottish McLaren.
William Phillips ended the first session fourth quickest before handing over to Macmillan AMR co-driver Jan Jonck, whose rapid lap – one of just four in the 2m12s bracket – hoisted their Aston Martin one place to third in the final classification. UltraTek/RJN and Nissan also celebrated their best qualifying result of the year, as well as first in the Pro/Am class, thanks to the combined efforts of Kelvin Fletcher – who was fifth fastest in the first session – and Struan Moore, while Adams Balon and Mackay maintained their fine run of consistency to hand track-club fifth.
All three crews benefitted from a tough session for David Pittard, whose Lanan Ginetta dropped from third after the opening 10 minutes to sixth in the final combined times. Tolman Motorsport’s David Pattison and Joe Osborne head up row four alongside Black Bull Garage 59’s second McLaren of Akhil Rabindra and Dean Macdonald.
There were other standout performances further down the timing screens. Scott Malvern set the second fastest time of anyone to help Team Parker Racing’s Porsche claim ninth, but he was still a tenth shy of Martin Plowman’s best – a 2m12.692s – aboard UltraTek/RJN’s second Nissan 370Z, which ended up with the fastest time of all.
Two Invitation class cars, which are not running to GT4 specification, nevertheless contested both sessions. Stratton Motorsport’s Lotus Evora starts in front of the GT4 contingent thanks to the combined efforts of Gavan Kershaw and Stuart Hall, while GPRM’s Toyota GT86 lines up just behind HHC’s Ginetta.
