Mercedes were dominant in GT3 qualifying with Ian Loggie claiming pole for race 1 and Ullyse de Pauw getting his maiden Intelligent Money British GT Championship pole for race 2. In GT4 Matt Cowley claimed the top spot in the Academy Motorsport Mustang for race one whilst 16 year old Jamie Day took the race 2 pole for R-Racing.
With a new spec Pirelli tyre to play with the lap record had already been broken by 2 seconds in FP2 so much was expected from the qualifying session and it didn’t disappoint.
GT3
Michael Igoe in the #18 WPI Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán set the first time to stick at the top of the timing sheets with only James Cottingham in the #4 2Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 coming close, missing the top spot by 1/2000ths of a second. Igoe reacted and increased the gap to 1/700th of a second.
Flick Haigh driving the #75 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 wasn’t going to let the boys have all the fun and jumped to the top of the session crossing the line just ahead of Ian Loggie in the #6 RAM Racing Mercedes who looked on course to blitz everyone until the very final corner when the BMW of Betty Chen blocked him and cost him the lap. Proving his lap was no fluke Loggie, on the next lap avoided trouble and despite Haigh also improving her time, claimed pole position.
In the final seconds James Cottingham put two purple sectors together and looked like he’d be taking the pole but a lock up into the final chicane cost him the position and he qualified in P3 with a personal best lap of 1:48.278 just 0.089 seconds behind pole.
Ian Loggie’s pole lap was 1:48.189, 0.048 seconds faster than Haigh’s lap of 1:48.237. Cottingham took third in the sister 2Seas Mercedes making the top 3 a Mercedes lock out. Michael Igoe put his Lamborghini in P4 ahead of Adam Balon’s Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini and the Assetto Motorsport Bentley of Mark Sansom in P6.
In the second session Ullyse de Pauw driving the #15 RAM Racing Mercedes set the time to beat early in the session and the only person to beat it was de Pauw who went on to put in a lap of 1:45.858. Callum Macleod in the #6 RAM Racing Mercedes was 0.246 behind with Lewis Williamson in the #4 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes was holding P3. In the final seconds he claimed P2 pushing Macleod down to P3 with a lap of 1:45.971.
Jonny Adam took P4 in the second 2Seas Motorsport Mercedes ahead of fellow Scot Sandy Mitchell in the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini. Marcus Clutton was working hard through the session in the Enduro Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 but could only take fifth place ahead of the WPI Lamborghini of Phil Keen.
GT4
In GT4 the qualifying lap record was smashed by 2 seconds in the first few minutes of the opening session. The #48 Toyota Supra of Tom Edgar set the opening time but Matt Cowley in the #61 Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang knocked him off the top with a lap of 1:55.909, 3 tenths faster than the Toyota.
Cowley strengthened his grip on pole with another best lap of 1:55.793 whilst Josh Miller in the #23 R-Racing Aston Marin Vantage pushed ahead of Edgar just a tenth behind the Mustang on pole.
In the final minute Matt Topham spun out the #27 Newbridge Aston Martin Vantage going into the first corner however he was able to get underway without any interruption to the session. The #56 Assetto Motorsport Ginetta of Freddie Tomlinson took P4 just a tenth of a second behind third place and Ross Whylie put the #51 Valuga Racing Porsche 718 Cayman into fifth place.
The championship leading, Steller Motorsport Audi with Richard Williams behind the wheel starts from tenth place.
In the second session Jamie Day driving the #23 R-Racing Aston Martin Vantage set the first fastest time with a lap of 1:55.773 and held it to the end of the session however behind him the top positions were being swapped around regularly. Will Burns in the #90 Century Motorsport M4 was ahead of Matty Graham in the #51 Valuga racing Porsche before Sennan Fielding briefly held P2 before dropping down the field to P5.
Darren Turner in the #27 Newbridge Motorsport Aston Martin was up to P4 but in the final seconds Sennan Fielding put the #42 Stellar Motorsport Audi up to P2 with a lap of 1:56.036, two tenths behind Jamie Day. Darren Turner who usually dominated GT4 qualifying found himself dropped to P5 after a 1:56.097 lap from the #65 Team Parker Racing Porsche 718 Cayman.
Round 5 of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship start at 10:45 BST on Sunday morning with round 6 getting underway at 16:05 BST.
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