Team Parker Racing will start tomorrow’s 120-minute British GT race from pole-positon after both Rick Parfitt Jnr and Seb Morris both topped the time sheets in their respective AM and PRO qualifying sessions, giving Bentley a maiden pole in the top national series in the process.
Parfitt Jnr shot to the top of the timesheets with a 1:25.509 lap of the Brands Hatch GP Circuit with just over a minute left on the clock after there had been seven changes for provisional pole in the preceding minutes. Morris was the fifth driver to go fastest in the PRO session, and his 1:22.907 lap blitzed the previous British GT qualifying best at the Kent track, even beating the 1:23.703 lap time set by WRT Audi’s Lauren Vanthoors last May in the Blancpain Sprint Series round.
“I had no idea I’d got pole,” said Parfitt Jnr fresh out of the car. “I thought I was top three, but I made a few mistakes so I didn’t think I was quickest. The car is very very good, and I’m really happy to have gone quickest in the AM session. I feel a bit emotional if I’m honest!”
Morris added: “Rick came forward leaps and bounds and when I saw his time I thought we could be onto something. I thought I’d try and nail it first lap out like I used to have to in single-seaters, and thankfully I did! The car performed brilliantly, it felt so good, I could push 100. I still maintain we have no pressure to win tomorrow, it’s our first race together with a new car and new team, and as long as we pick up points, both Rick and I will be happy.”
The result was somewhat of a shock given the form of the TF Sport Aston Martins and the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghinis in the earlier practice sessions, although the Beechdean-AMR Vantage was sidelined from competing for pole after Andrew Howard was unable to make it back from Silverstone in time to compete, therefore meaning the #1 Aston Martin would start from the back of the grid.
Barwell’s Phil Keen outperformed Lamborghini factory ace Fabio Babini, with the British driver’s 1:23.415 good enough for second on the grid when combined with team-mate Jon Minshaw’s 1:25.882 lap (sixth in AM). The Huracan GT3 was just 0.011s quicker than the combined best of TF Sport’s Jonny Adam (1:23.766, fifth in PRO) and Derek Johnston (1:25.542, second in AM) in the #17 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The sister TF Sport Aston of Mark Farmer (1:28.094, tenth in AM ) and Jon Barnes (1:23.682, fourth in PRO) will start seventh.
Rob Bell returns to British GT this weekend after his 2010 GT4 performance alongside younger brother Matt, and unsurprisingly delivered a sub 1:24 time, (1:23.909, sixth in PRO), and Alasdair McCaig progressed throughout his first AM qualifying session on the GP loop in four years to post a 1:26.192 (seventh in AM) in the dying minutes, which yielded fourth place for the Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650s GT3.
A mere 0.09s behind the McLaren was the Babini (1:24.558, tenth in PRO) and Liam Griffin (1:25.633, third in AM) #6 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini, with Team Principal Mark Lemmer confident of a good result tomorrow: “We have a very good race car on our hands here, so I’m not too worried about where we’ve qualified.”
Sixth was AMDtuning.com’s BMW Z4 GT3 of Lee Mowle (1:25.868, fifth in AM) and Joe Osborne (1:24.443, ninth in PRO) with Osborne frustrated by an error with front tyre pressures that robbed him of an opportunity to challenge for pole.
Special mention should be given to Ross Gunn, taking part in his first GT3 qualifying session today. The 19-year-old reigning British GT4 Champion posted a 1:23.361 lap after going quickest in free practice two, making him second fastest of all the PROs and joining Morris in beating Vanthoor’s Blancpain Sprint Series best from last year. The challenge for he and Howard tomorrow is sizeable, but in the first race of the season and in a race of two hours, don’t discount Gunn and Howard from making waves in tomorrow’s race.
Local racer, Jody Fannin (Godstone, Kent) also starred in qualifying with the PFL Motorsport Aston Martin, producing a 1:24.080 lap that placed him seventh in PRO, while team-mate Pete Littler, the first disabled British GT competitor in the series’ 23-year history, qualified thirteenth in class with a 1:32.577 tour of the Brands Hatch circuit.
Tolman Motorsport promised much in free practice, but both Ginettas struggled to make the mark in qualifying. Michael Simpson’s 1:24.320 lap (eighth in PRO) shows what the G55 GT3 can achieve, but the greasy track conditions, a result of April showers and a lack of track running on the GP loop in recent weeks, suit the Ginetta least of all the GT3s. Should we have a dry race tomorrow, the Tolman-prepared Ginetta will be pushing forward.
Unfortunately troubles continued for Optimum Motorsport and for the third successive session today. The team’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 went off track again, this time at the hands of Ryan Ratcliffe in the PRO session. In a similar incident to team-mate Will Moore earlier in the day, the Welshman went straight on at Druids. A source close to the team expected the car to be able to compete tomorrow, albeit from row six.
The sole all ‘AM’ driver line-up of Martin Short and Richard Neary had a positive day qualifying tenth overall with both drivers getting progressively quicker. Speaking post qualifying, Neary, new to GT3 racing and British GT quipped: “I’ve just got to get quicker, that’s all we can do to move up the grid.”
