Pilbeam Takes Pole.
The race morning began with an added 30 minute practice to give some of the gearbox battered teams of yesterday time for more lappery. Or, as in the case of Nick Parrott Racing, time to destroy another BMW diesel.
The Pilbeam set an early time of 1:41.530, followed by the Juno at 1:42.687. Third among the sports-racers is the Lola at 1:45.391. The Shelby has elected to skip qualifying and will start at the back. That should make things interesting.
Fastest of the GT-ish cars is the #22 Backdraft at 1:46.858. It almost sounds like a Cobra this morning. Next up is the pristine #4 Porsche at 1:48.270, then the sole surviving front-motor Porsche at 1:49.887. Two more 911s are next, with #911 at 1:51.498 and #194 at 1:51.931.
The TVR is gradually improving, hitting 1:53.412 halfway through qualifying. It is just ahead of the Panoz as the first 30 minutes of the one-hour session elapsed. The #5 Seven is the best of the Lotus club, at 1:54.741. Cars #16 and #83 are close behind. The best of the Touring cars is the #20 Golf at 1:57.378, with the #33 VW at 1:59.419.
The naturally aspirated Backdraft and the smoky diesel 330d are the first cars slower than two minutes. The #7 Toyota is the only remaining car not requiring a calendar for timing, at 2:05.450. Thereafter, things fall to 2:16.175 for the #55 Escort, 2:24.675 for the Datsun and a painful for 2:47.499 for the 910.
The last half hour of qualifying largely drizzled away with only a few changes of position. For the last 5-8 minutes there were only two cars on track, the #20 Golf and the slightly less smoky BMW.
Here are the final qualifying results
Janos Wimpffen
