British GT: Steller Performance from Williams in Qualifying

An unforgetable British GT Championship Saturday for Rob Bell and Shaun Balfe gifted the #22 McLaren their second pole in a row and keeps alive the Balfe Motorsport’s narrow title chances.

The #22 requires a win to stand a chance of the GT3 title, though will know its fate lies more at the hands of those behind them at Donington Park. In GT4, the #29 Steller Performance Audi will head the field tomorrow ahead of the two main title contenders. A win for either would secure them the crown.

Free Practice was a chance for the drivers to show off their capabilities and GT3 leader Phil Keen did just that, going fastest in the first session. He would repeat the feat in Practice 2, setting the Lamborghini up as favourite for qualifying. In GT4 it was the #15 Multimatic Motorsport, driven by Scott Maxwell who set the benchmark in the first session, with their rivals in the #97 TF Sport Aston Martin topping FP2.

GT3 Am

With everything to gain and nothing to prove, Shaun Balfe set the initial pace after the first run. Improving his time, he set a 1min 27.714 to earn a two tenth gap to Silver driver Angus Fender in the #9 Century BMW. The lap was also 0.641 faster than Ian Loggie the next highest Am, setting up the McLaren for a strong shout at pole. Dominic Paul in the #3 Century and Graham Davidson completed the top five, after a mistake by Davidson dropped him 4 seconds on his first run.

GT3 Pro

Eyes would be on Rob Bell’s #22 McLaren, with the Balfe Motorsport driver initially setting a combined lap 1.3sec quicker than anyone. Phil Keen would bring the gap down, but there was no stopping Bell, setting a 1min 26.735 to establish a 0.615sec gap to the points leader, the #72 Barwell.

Third was #6 RAM Racing Mercedes, after Callum MacLeod’s first laps were deleted, resulting in a late final run. Title protagonists #47 TF Sport and #69 Barwell will line up 4th and 7th respecitively, though Adam’s fourth will be pending with the #9 Century’s combined time identical down to the thousandth as the #3 Century BMW starts the race from sixth.

GT4 Am

The TF Sport pair were first out the pits with the #95 running in front as to help the #97 get a drag down the straights. It worked with Ash Hand 0.3 seconds ahead of the opposition after the first run. It would be extended to half a second with the #95 driven by Patrick Kibble in second. Their plan would be cut short though as Steller Performance’s Richard Williams set a 1min 34.970 to go quickest. Jordan Collard dragged the #5 Tolman to fourth, only for his time to be deleted handing fourth and fifth to the #57 HHC and #43 Century BMW.

GT4 Pro

Sennan Fielding was tasked with the dubious honour of maintaining pole for the #29 Steller Audi R8 LMS. The Brit impressed, setting the second fastest time of his group to put the Audi into overall GT4 pole, as Dean MacDonald set the quickest individual lap (1min 34.443) to drag the #57 HHC Motorsport into third overall. Carrying an 8.5 point deficit to the #97 TF Sport, the McLaren needed every advantage, though will be disappointed the rival Aston Martin lines up ahead.

A strong qualifying for Tom Canning saw the #97 TF Sport line up second, ahead of all their title opposition. To make matters better, their teammates in the #95 qualified fourth as the #15 Multimatic Motorsport Mustang could only manage fifth. It was a disaster for the Tolman Motorsport pairs chances though, with the #5 in tenth and the #4 in fifteenth.