For a while, it was looking like qualifying might go a ways in helping Mike Skeen earn some bonus points towards the championship, but 40th birthday boy Guy Smith came through and captured pole position – his second consecutive in the series for Dyson Bentley.
Skeen ended up .4 seconds back of Smith in the 15 minute session, which saw 21 GT/GTA cars start the session. Johnny O’Connell ended up way back in 8th position, his best almost an entire second back of Smith’s best.
After the session, O’Connell was among the first to give Smith a big old hug, as shutting Skeen out of pole prevented the 7 points bonus going the way of the Audi driver.
Third was Butch Leitzinger for Dyson.
“It’s great to get this for Rob, Chris and for Bentley,” said Guy. “The car was quick this morning in cooler conditions but we opted to leave it as it was, not play with it and it paid off. I’m delighted too for Lewis Pinto, he’s one of the M-Sport assistant engineers and this is his very first time lead engineering a car. If we can get it off the line well we have a good race car.”
Fastest in the GTA subcategory was Michael Mills for Effort Racing. He was .8 seconds faster than Tim Pappas, who has returned to the series after an extended absence.
In GTS, it was Mark Wilkins holding off the ever young Jack Baldwin for pole, giving the bonus points to the class leader.
