“We’re still buzzing from our win at Spa, and really happy with the way it’s going. The lap I did was-near perfect.”
Alex Reed’s delight at the end of the first qualifying session at Snetterton was well-founded, as he comfortably placed his Lanan Racing Ginetta G55 (above) on GT4 pole for the first of tomorrow’s two one-hour sprints.
The Am field was led out by the GT4 championship-leading PMW World Expo Ginetta, Graham Johnson quickly down to business on his first flying lap, 1:58.792 setting the bar as the only sub two-minute lap until Sandy Mitchell’s Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 570S improved the provisional pole time to 1:58.146 a lap later.
This wasn’t to last long though, Reed having been late out of the pits and gapping the field sufficiently to get a clear run on his first flyer. His Ginetta’s early 1:58.034 was enough to hold the top slot until the chequered flag, the #51 Lanan Racing G55 clearly still on form.
Johnson regrouped, and was able to post a 1:58.114 to make it a Ginetta front row, the Ecurie Ecosse McLaren down to third.
The first of the Aston Martins was the #42 Generation MacMillan Racing Aston Martin, fourth on the grid in the hands of Jack Mitchell on 1:59.047, followed by Jack Bartholomew’s Beechdean entry, which will share row three at the start tomorrow with Will Phillips’s #45 Team HARD Ginetta.
There’s some work to do in the #407 entry’s pursuit of the Johnson/Robinson Ginetta for the championship lead, although with a seven-second penalty to take from their second place at Spa the #50 PMW World Expo crew will be looking for whatever points they can.
Elsewhere, the Century Ginettas will have their work cut out from the fifth row they share, Anna Walewska and Nathan Freke needing a good run and some luck to stay in touch with the championship leaders.
The #44 Generation AMR Aston Martin that had showed so well in FP2 will start from the back of the grid for Race 1 tomorrow, James Holder trying hard but still not quite comfortable in the car.
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This was quickly addressed by Matt George though, who took the #44 car straight out at the head of the Pro field as qualifying for Race 2 got underway. His 1:57.215 set the pace initially from Mike Robinson’s PMW Expo Ginetta before Bradley Ellis took the #50 car’s front-row slot with a 1:57.840.
This situation was short-lived, however, as Ross Gunn (above) demonstrated why he was elevated to the Beechdean team’s GT3 squad. Back on GT4 duty in the absence of the team’s GT3 car this weekend, the 2015 GT4 champ took half a second off the quickest time, his 1:56.837 seemingly without effort:
“That was a surprise,” Gunn said. “The lap was okay but not as good as I could have done. It’s a shame what’s happened with Jordan (Albert), but it’s my job this weekend to keep Jack in the championship hunt.”
Joey Foster continued the form for Lanan Racing, a 1:57.379 good enough for third on the grid.
Matthew George was trying to elevate his status in the #42 Generation AMR Aston Martin and probably tried too hard going into the left hander at the Brundle/Nelson complex to find the tyre wall and bring out the red flag with just under two minutes of the session to go.
Brad Ellis and Mike Robinson’s Ginettas stayed fourth and fifth, Ciaran Haggerty’s McLaren making up the third row in sixth.
