British GT: TF Sport and Multimatic Top Quali at Donington

Back to back poles for the #47 TF Sport Aston Martin ends the run of different polesitters in GT3 in the British GT Championship. Graham Davidson and Jonny Adam, who had started the Silverstone 500 at the front of the grid will again lead the field away at Donington Park tomorrow.

Setting a combined time of 2min 54.792, the pair were fortunate to not blister their tyres early after a red flag interrupted the Pro’s qualifying. In GT4, it was four poles out of six for the #15 Multimatic Motorsport Ford Mustang with Seb Priaulx leading Scott Maxwell as both hope to jump back into the championship lead.

Practice earlier in the day had seen Nicki Thiim top the first session with a 1min 27.951 as Billy Johnson led the GT4’s for the #19 Multimatic Mustang, alongside the returning Sir Chris Hoy. Thiim would continue to perform in second practice, finishing second behind the #72 Barwell Lamborghini of Phil Keen, though sadly the Dane’s personal form was not enough to save them in a combined qualifying session. As for the #55 Lamborghini, a Gearbox failure brought their weekend to an end before it has even begun.

GT3 Am

It would be Shaun Balfe who led for most of the session, just 0.001 seconds ahead of Graham Davidson in the #47 TF Sport as the session warmed up. Davidson would go to the top a lap later holding on to provisional pole with a 1min 27.810. With only a handful of laps to perfect their run most drivers were quickly out to find space. The exception to this was Richard Neary, abandoning an early run to pit for new tyres, reducing him to a single run.

Optimum Motorsport knocked Balfe’s McLaren down another place after the AM session, under a tenth behind the time of Davidson. Meanwhile Ian Loggie in the #6 RAM Racing recovered from their practice woes to go fourth ahead of the #3 Century Motosport BMW.

GT3 Pro

Sadly for Callum MacLeod, all the work done from Loggie was quickly erased, as he caught the kerb at the Fogarty Esses spinning into the gravel, bringing out the red flag with only three timed laps set. The #47 TF Sport had been on top when the session was stopped, with Jonny Adam having his work cut out to hold off Dennis Lind in the #18 WPI Lamborghini, fastest in session with a 1min 26.753. The TF Sport hung on though, setting a combined time of 2min 54.792.

WPI secured their best qualifying of the year in second, as the Balfe Motorsport McLaren fell to third after Rob Bell struggled to drop below the 1min 27s. With three manufacturers in the top three, fourth would be our second Lamborghini as the #72 Barwell Motorsport was just over half a second behind the polesitter. Rounding out the top three rows would be the championship leading #69 Barwell and Beechdean AMR #99 driven by Andrew Howard and the returning Ross Gunn.

GT4 Am

McLaren’s mysterous absence from the sharp end of the grid in practice was rectified in qualifying as Josh Smith led the #4 Tolman to the top at the start of the session. It would not last though as the BMW Century Motorsport of Angus Fender topped the session with 1min 35.373. The 18 year old from Bath was 0.146 seconds quicker than the #15 Multimatic Motorsport Mustang with the Canadian Scott Maxwell leading the way.

Smith fell to third as a result, but remained ahead the the top Aston Martin with the #35 Optimum Motorsport. Completing the top six at the end of the first run was the #11 Beechdean AMR and the #57 HHC Motorsport McLaren.

GT4 Pro

All eyes were on the Ford Mustang as they looked to secure their fourth pole position of the season. Seb Priaulx would not disappoint, becoming the second fastest man in GT4, setting a combined time of 3min 10.636 and securing pole. Scott Malvern set a GT4 lap record, but could only drag his #66 Team Parker Racing Mercedes to sixth after a tough session for teammate Jones. They would however line-up as the top GT4 Pro-Am pair.

Instead, it would be Tolman Motorsport joining them on the front row as the #4 of James Dorlan bettered their HHC Motorsport McLaren rival. Century Motorsport was fourth with their #42 crew of Jacob Mathiassen and Mark Kimber. Kimber, who was third fastest in his session, was more impressive due the fact he’d never raced on the track before, claiming to have “only driven it in video games.” Joining Malvern on the third row will be the #11 Beechdean Aston Martin.

The race tomorrow starts at 13:10.