Reigning champions raise roof at Rockingham for Round 3 pole

The #1 TF Sport Aston Martin V12 Vantage of Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam took pole for Round 3 of the 2017 British GT Championship, whilst Stuart Middleton and William Tregurtha took GT4 pole in the #55 HHC Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4.

GT3 qualified first, and a few shocks were in order, thanks to the series’ qualifying rules (the first driver qualifies in their own session, the second does too, and the combined times set the grid). After the #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 received its engine change, Jon Minshaw set out to continue the momentum from his brace of wins alongside Phil Keen at Oulton Park. With one competitive lap time set, he was into the 1m 17s, before the lap was disallowed for track limits. That meant he set a 1m 18.212, leaving Phil Keen with work to do. Even by setting a 1m 16.448, that would only be enough to secure 3rd. The two TF Sport Aston Martin V12 Vantages set the pace throughout Free Practice 2, and it was first blood to the #11 of Mark Farmer, 0.101 faster than Derek Johnston. Come the second session for the 2nd drivers, and it was very much the reverse. 0.391 would decide pole; but Jonny Adam in the #1 was ahead of Jon Barnes, meaning it would be #1, #11 and #3 the top 3 for tomorrow’s 2-hour race.
Liam Griffin and Sam Tordoff did well, even with a lap disallowed, to take 4th aboard the 2nd Barwell car, with the #6 heading the #31 Team Parker Racing Bentley of Rick Parfitt and Seb Morris. 6th went to the #30 AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Lee Mowle and Ryan Ratcliffe, and 7th went to the #21 Spirit of Race SA Ferrari 488 GT3 of Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin.

Over in GT4, the #55 HHC Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 rounded out a top-3 lockout for the Yorkshire make. The #55, with Stuart Middleton and William Tregurtha driving, took a combined effort of 2m 45.465 to end 0.438 ahead of the #51 Lanan Racing entry of Alex Reed and David Pittard, winners of Race 2 at Oulton Park. 3rd would go to the #501 PMW Expo Racing/Optimum Motorsport car of Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson, and 4th was the best of the rest, per se, with Sandy Mitchell and Ciaran Haggerty in the #100 Black Bull Garage 59 McLaren 570S GT4. 5th went to the first of the Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing cars, the #63 of Sam Webster and Matt Chapman ahead of the #63 Academy Motorsport Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 of Will Moore and Matt Nicoll-Jones in 6th.

29 cars, a 2 hour race and a less-than-2 mile circuit – British GT is back into endurance mode tomorrow!

Images c/o Nick Smith/theimageteam.com
Results c/o tsl-timing.com