Paradine Motorsport’s Darren Leung and Dan Harper charged to a dominant pole position in qualifying for the British GT’s Silverstone 500 season-opener.
The 2023 champions masterfully claimed the top honours in the session, with Leung having set an early benchmark in his session, almost a second clear of two-time champion Rob Collard in his #78 Barwell Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.
Following the effort of BMW factory driver Dan Harper, aiming at securing his sixth race win this year, he completed the effort after a close match against #77 Optimum Motorsport driver Ben Barnicoat.
“I think it was a big advantage for me to be able to be at the front and then to back everybody up,” said Leung after his session.
“So as much as I love to take the credit for being nine-tenths up the road, I think it’s probably flattering a bit too much there. I just got lucky with the track position.”
“We’ve won it twice, but we’ve never qualified (at the front) in both,” added Harper.
“So it’s a nice feeling, and it was very difficult to know where we were through the practice sessions. We decided to try and save a set of tyres for the race, so towards the end of FP2, there were a lot of people quite a bit faster… “
“You only get one chance every weekend to go flat out and around this place, it’s very special, especially in those conditions, so of course Darren’s has been a very impressive lap.
“He had me sweating a bit, thinking I don’t even know if I can do that.”
Andrew Gilbert had a brief off-track spin at Club Corner, but recovered without further drama for the #15 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, as James Townsend also spun in the later Q3 session.
Barwell’s #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 claimed third in the end with Collard and Hugo Cook’s combined 3:57.339 lap time.
Reigning champions Kiern Jewiss and Charles Dawson, seeking an overdue victory after finishing second last year, qualified fourth with a 3:57.660.
2 Seas’ #18 Mercedes of Ben Green and Kevin Tse took fifth with their time of 3:57.823.
In the Silver-Am rankings, SRO GT Academy driver Jarrod Waberski and his teammate Alex Martin took pole in the class and lined up sixth in the order (3:57.834)
They were only just ahead of Marcus Clutton and Simon Orange’s #67 Orange Racing McLaren (3:58.490), followed by the second-highest Silver-Am car of last year’s GT4 champions, Jack Brown and Marc Warren, in the #90 Optimum McLaren (3:58.702).
Australian pairing Garnet Patterson and Yasser Shahin put Optimum’s #3 McLaren in ninth (3:59.135) as Beechdean’s #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo rounded out the top-10 in the hands of AMR factory driver Ross Gunn and British GT stalwart Andrew Howard (3:59.431).
Debutants Innovation Racing Take GT4 Pole, Ginettas Up Front
Innovation Racing claimed their maiden pole position in the GT4 category as the Toro Verde GT enabled Ginetta to lock out the front row.
Thomas Holland and Hadley Simpson set a combined lap time of 4:18.723, putting the #74 car ahead of the #42 drivers Luke Shaw and Jack Mitchell, the highest in the GT4 Pro-Am sub-classification.
“It feels good,” Holland said after topping his session.
“I mean, it’s been a bit of a teething process.
“Of course, a new team to British GT, new co-driver as well with Hadley Simpson.
“But we’re all getting there. I think there’s a lot more to come, and we’re hoping to show people that the plucky underdogs can take it to the big boys.
“Definitely the plucky underdog.
“He’s rapid,” he referred to his teammate Simpson. “British GT is a bit of a pressure cooker environment for anyone stepping up into it for the first time.”
Shaw/Mitchell’s 4:18.755 put them ahead of third-placed Will Orton and Jessica Hawkins of the #21 MK Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo.
AMR factory driver Darren Turner and his teammate Daniel Lavery put the #27 Grange Racing by FSR Aston Martin in fourth (4:19.713).
Defending GT4 Silver champion Luca Hopkinson and championship debutant Josh Stranton qualified fifth in Optimum’s #59 McLaren Artura (4:19.981), having shown early pace during their sessions before teams ahead surpassed their time.
Jack Collins and Branden Templeton’s #24 Century Motorsport, whose team won the GT4 class in last year’s race, set a combined time of 4:19.713 to go sixth.
Tom Bradshaw and Ian Duggan’s #8 Toro Verde GT Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS starts seventh in tomorrow’s race, followed by Joe Wheeler/Townsend’s #40 Aston Martin (4:22.546).
Ronan Pearson and John Hartshorne put their #97 GBR Stratton Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo took ninth after their time of 4:23.496, followed by the #61 WSR BMW of Colin Turkington and Ernie Graham.
Revie Lake and Black Angliss rounded out the 11-car GT4 field in the #84 Mahiki Racing McLaren (4:25.301).
The Silverstone 500 gets underway at 13:00 BST on Sunday to kickstart an action-packed enduro.
