The #24 RJN Nissan GT-R of Silver Cup duo Struan Moore and Ricardo Sanchez will start Sunday’s Silverstone 500 three-hour British GT race from pole position, after its drivers recorded the best combined lap times in Saturday’s two-part qualifying session.
Silver-rated Sanchez had outpaced the Am drivers in the first part of the session, ahead of Mark Farmer, Rick Parfitt, Graham Davidson, Andrew Howard, Ian Loggie, Flick Haigh, Richard Neary, Shaun Balfe, Sam de Haan, Derek Johnston, Jon Minshaw and Mike Brown.
The second part saw Moore at the wheel of the Nissan, up against the Pro drivers in the British GT field. Although his effort was around seven-tenths off the best time in that part of the session, his and Sanchez’s combined time could not be bettered by any other crew, with the #11 TF Sport Aston of Farmer and Nicki Thiim joining them on the front row as the highest-qualifying Pro-Am car.
Graham Davidson and Maxime Martin had looked a threat for pole based on their free-practice pace, but the Jetstream Aston Martin wound up third on the grid after the two sessions, alongside the Loggie/Callum Macleod #7 Bentley. Neary and Adam Christodoulou qualified the Abba Mercedes fifth, just ahead of defending champion (and 2017 race winner) Parfitt and his co-driver Ryan Ratcliffe in the #1 Bentley.
The fourth row is an all-Aston affair with the Adam/Flick Haigh #75 Optimum car next to Darren Turner and Howard in the Beechdean Vantage. The second TF Sport Aston of Johnston and Marco Sorensen qualified ninth, the Balfe Motorsport McLaren was 10th and the #69 de Haan/Jonny Cocker Lamborghini was the highest qualifier out of the two Barwell cars in 11th.
Yelmer Buurman could only get the ERC Mercedes to 12th after Mowle’s first-session lap, while the final two GT3 qualifiers were the #33 Minshaw/ PhilKeen Lamborghini (underperforming compared to their typical pace) and the #26 Ultimate Speed Aston of Brown and Matt Manderson, which saw its qualifying compromised when Brown missed the chequered flag and kept going at the end of the first part of the session, which delayed Manderson getting aboard for the second.
GT4: McKay and Hutchison take qualifying spoils for Equipe Verschuur McLaren
With only a 10-minute session and such a (relatively) long lap time around Silverstone, it was almost a case of every lap counting for the 22-car field. Indeed, the first flying lap did not appear on the timing screen until there was only 5:30 left to run.
Finlay Hutchinson opened with an impressive 2:11.777 for his #10 McLaren, the fastest GT4 time of the day so far and it wouldn’t be bettered in the session.
“The car was phenomenal, really comfortable, the time came really easily and I’m sure Dan will do a great job, we’ll see what we have in it.”
#62 (Moore) and #61 (Wood) Academy Aston Martins were fast out of the blocks too, second and fourth respectively at first with a 2:12.482 and 2:12.730 respectively. Ben Green was almost inevitably in the mix too with a 2:12.574. Matthew George had extra pressure as he had two GT4 cars to qualify, starting with the #144 Super Racing Aston Martin, but he dealt with it admirably to deliver the second quickest time with a 2:12.002 in the #144 Aston Martin.
Murfitt’s Fox Motorsport Mercedes (#77) and Canning’s #68 Toyota were then sitting pretty before being demoted respectively by McLaren’s late additions to the top 10 in Charlie Fagg and Lewis Proctor. The top ten was rounded out by the #55 Ginetta Patrik Matthiesen.
GT4 Pro
Jan Jonck initially set the fastest time of 2:11.421 in the #61 Aston Martin, which hauled it to second overall but McKay was only a tenth down on that time so when added to Hutchinson’s opener they still sat 7/10ths clear at the front of the field.
Michael Broadhurst then took the Fox Motorsport Mercedes #77 to third with a quickest GT4 lap of 2:11.213. The #62 Aston Martin fell to fourth with a 2:11.943 for Nicoll-Jones with Ben Tuck holding the #42 BMW in the top five (2:11.870).
McKay then improved to a 2:11.481 before pitting – with a cushion of around 9/10ths of a second they might as well save some tyres for tomorrow.
“Finlay gave me a great reference to chase so I’m really happy with that, it’s a great team effort.”
The #144 Mercedes fell to a grid place of 16th but the #66 Mercedes pushed up to sixth place on the grid after a strong 2:11.481 for Scott Malvern. #43 (Mitchell) and #53 (Plowman) also pushed into the top on the grid with sub 2:12 laps.
Matthew George managed to leap across the pit garages in his double duty and post a 2:12.915 for the #44 Jaguar and must join a very elite group of drivers who have qualified two different cars for the same race.
