PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport dominated both GT4 sessions at Oulton Park, to continue their dominant approach to the 2016 British GT Championship.
GT3 AM Qualifying
In the ‘AM’ session Graham Johnson set out his stall early with a 1:44.918 lap of the Cheshire circuit, but that wasn’t the time that would set pole. Both Alex Reed in the #51 Lanan Racing Ginetta (1:44.386) and the #407 Beechdean-AMR ‘juniors’ Aston Martin of Jack Bartholomew (1:43.990) bettered it.
However, Johnson’s second hot lap, a 1:43.866 was enough to deny all others pole position and secure Optimum’s second consecutive top spot start in the British GT4 category. Behind Johnson, it was Bartholomew (+0.124s to pole) and Reed (+0.520s to pole) that would take second and third respectively with their initial first lap offerings.
It was a pretty straightforward session at Oulton though, with little drama and lots of hard graft from the twelve runners. Of all the remaining nine drivers it was only Sandy Mitchell in the Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S GT4 that looked likely of threatening the top three.
In the latter stages of the ten minute session he went quickest of any one in the first sector, but on the approach to Warwick Bridge he encountered two squabbling Ginettas and had to back out of his lap. Mitchell finished fourth with a 1:44.505 some 0.6s off Johnson, and 0.119s off of Reed.
There was a brief red flag with three minutes remaining after RCIB Insurance Racing / Team Hard’s Will Phillips made contact with a tyre wall at Brittains. Phillips misery would be confounded further however, when the only driver to improve in the final minutes was Century’s Sean Byrne (1:44.604s), nicking fifth from the unfortunate Phillips by 0.067s.
Century’s sister car containing championship challenger Anna Walewska didn’t seem as on song as in the previous two rounds, but the 29-year-old University of Bolton-backed racer took seventh (1:45.171) and afforded Ginetta the luxury of having five G55 GT4s in the top seven of GT4.
Matthew Graham’s Macmillan Racing Aston Martin was eighth (1:45.204) ahead of series new-boy Aaron Mason in the second of the RCIB Insurance Racing / Team Hard Ginettas and Kieran Griffin rounded out the top ten in the JW Bird Motorsport Vantage (1:47.043).
Nick Jones only had time for an installation lap after his Simpson Motorsport Ginetta had a freak accident in FP2, leaving the crew with a race against time to fix their G55.
The delightful Maserati GT4 Gran Turismo MC GT4 of Marcus Hoggarth didn’t partake in qualifying due to the driver being at a personal engagement, but it did take part in the PRO session in the hands of Abbie Eaton. This means the Maserati will start race one on Monday from the rear of the grid.
Graham Johnson, PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4: “I’m quite disappointed with the lap, actually. I got blocked and could have gone a lot quicker. It’s not often you’re on pole and feel disappointed but I would have liked to demonstrate our true pace. You always want to do your best and when you don’t there’s a competitive element that says ‘I could have done more’. But ok, after what happened at Rockingham, I guess it’s good that we were able to come here with a rebuilt car and underline our inherent speed.”
GT4 PRO Qualifying
The final qualifying session for British GT entrants was a fascinating one if you looked for ‘best of the rest’. The pole-position was never in doubt with Mike Robinson in dominant form with his PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4.
Robinson’s initial offering, a 1:43.364, would have been good enough for pole, but the 2014 Clio Cup Champion made certain of it with his third lap, a 1:43.108, which was narrowly faster than last year’s GT4 pole time.
Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse’s Ciaran Haggerty initially challenged (1:43.428) but couldn’t sustain a rate of improvement needed and eventually was overcome but the hard-charging Scott Malvern. The single-seater ace’s 1:43.374 was two tenths shy of Robinson’s best and pole would’ve been a fantastic end to what had been a difficult day for Simpson Motorsport.
Things didn’t go to plan for Malvern though. His fastest time (a 1:43.298) and second place were deleted for exceeding track limits, but the former Formula Ford champion responded to reclaim a place on the front row in the dying moments.
Matthew George’s 2016 debut in the Generation AMR SuperRacing Aston Martin was a positive one, with the Base Performance Simulators technician finishing just 0.017s further back in fourth.
Nathan Freke’s FP1 pace suggested he and Century would prove serious pole position contenders, but he could only manage fifth in the end, one place clear of Jake Giddings’ JWBird Motorsport V8 Vantage.
Another Aston, the Macmillan Racing example, driven by Jack Mitchell ended up seventh, albeit 1.2s shy of top spot, while Abbie Eaton completed the top-eight in her Ebor GT-run Maserati MC GranTurismo GT4.
Mike Robinson, PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4: “In stark contrast to Graham I’m very pleased! I got a little lucky with the traffic because I didn’t get out of the pits first, but still ensured I had enough room to set a decent time. I had no traffic at all. It’s good because we know this is going to be the last ‘Ginetta circuit’, and after what happened at Rockingham it’s important to score as many points as possible. I carried on pushing on my final lap because my engineer said I was two tenths off, which I thought meant we’d lost pole. The car feels great, which is just as well because there are plenty of guys out there who have the potential to do very well on Monday.”
