Luckily the threat of rain had held off as the GT3 Am field headed out of pit lane, Mark Farmer’s 22GT Racing Aston Martin setting an initial benchmark of 1:31.317 to head the first of the combined sessions. Ross Wylie’s VonRyan Racing McLaren took over briefly, his time beaten by Rick Parfitt’s Ginetta in clear air as the rest of the field settled in. Parfitt traded provisional pole with Ross Wylie’s McLaren in the 1:30.6’s while the rest of the field primed itself.
While Steve Tandy buried his Ginetta into the tyre wall at the Old Hairpin, and therefore out of play, the first quick laps came from the #27 TF Sport Aston Martin in the hands of Andrew Jarman: two consecutive fastest laps; 1:30.127 followed by a big improvement to 1:29.342 and provisional pole held to the end of the Am qualifying session.
In terms of the main championship protagonists, Andrew Howard’s Beechdean Aston Martin had been resting slowest overall before he lapped in 1:30.295 to go third, displacing the #30 RAM Racing Mercedes and the #10 VonRyan McLaren which had been trading the position. Howard then improved further to 1:29.842 to plant himself on the first row, half a second shy of Jarman, and this deemed sufficient to make an early pit call. His Am rival Marco Attard had been running conservative times in eighth, before dropping to tenth as others improved. As the chequer fell, Lee Mowle threw in a 1:30.065 to go third for Triple Eight. Elsewhere, the #6 Oman Racing Aston Martin’s combined overall times were a little unrepresentative, but the car had ended its first session with visible scuffing to its left rear.
Tandy’s Ginetta towed back to the pits (it would take no further part), the Pro field took the stage. Joe Osborne made some rear wing adjustments to the Triple Eight Racing BMW and was first out. Straight on to a flyer, his initial 1:28.886 would be improved by three hundredths to stake claim on aggregate pole.
That was before the #27 TF Sport Aston got into its stride though. Jody Fannin had taken over the Eurostar liveried machine and soon dialled in its now established qualifying performance. Fannin, Osborne and Jonny Adam for Beechdean slugged it out at the top, but the TF Sport driver held on. Alexander Sims now had the wheel of the #1 Ecurie Ecosse BMW and was also involved, setting fastest time overall. However, as good as 1:28.365 looked good in purple on the screen, it would not be enough to take pole when combined with Attard’s lap. The championship leading crew would have to settle for fifth by the end of play, knocked off the grid’s second row by their team mates Minshaw and Keen in the final minutes.
With the Rosso Verde Ferrari of Benny Simonsen finding the gravel trap at the chicane, the session ended. This was evidently the result of loose gravel that had covered the tarmac, the GT3 field consistently straight-lining the kerb to create the hazard (the inside kerb has been moved here, which seems to have contributed to this situation).
However, though three cars were under investigation at the end of the qualifying session the top combined times were unaffected:
1. #27 TF Sport Aston Martin, Jarman / Fannin : 2:58.193
2. #007 Beechdean Aston Martin, Howard / Adam : 2:58.452
3. #888 Triple Eight Racing BMW, Mowle / Osborne : 2:58.645
4. #63 Barwell Demon Tweeks BMW, Minshaw / Keen : 2:58.710
5. #1 Barwell Ecurie Ecosse BMW, Attard / Sims : 2:58.860
6. #17 TF Sport Aston Martin, Johnston / Bell : 2:58.918
7. #10 VonRyan Racing McLaren, Wylie / Watson : 2:59.690
8. #6 Oman Racing Aston Martin, Butcher / Griffin : 2:59.758
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