Photo: Paren Raval (instagram.com/parenraval)
TF Sport put both its 2017 British GT Championship Aston Martin Vantage GT3s on the front row of the grid for Sunday April 29’s two-hour race.
Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam, fresh from his Blancpain GT Endurance Series Pro-Am victory at Autodromo Nazionale Monza last week, put the #1 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 on pole for Round 3 at Rockingham Motor Speedway.
Johnston set the third fastest time in the first session with a 1:17.808, behind Mark Farmer in the sister #11 car and the #24 Macmillan AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3 driven by Jack Mitchell. Adam then set the second-fastest time of Q2 with a 1:16.542 to put the 2016 champions on pole.
Qualifying started with the sad news that the #29 2Racing McLaren 570S GT4 would be taking no further part in the weekend’s activities as it had sustained more damage than first thought after its impact with the barrier coming out of the hairpin with Marcus Hoggarth at the wheel.
Second on the grid in the GT3 class was the #11 sister car driven by Mark Farmer and Jon Barnes. Farmer put in a 1:17.704 in Q1 after which Jin Barnes broke into the 1:16s with a 1:16.891 to take second place on the grid by more than half a second on aggregate time from the #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 piloted by Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen.
Ginettas locked-out the first three positions on the grid in the GT4 class, putting to bed the concern that the mature design would struggle to compete against the contemporary McLaren 570S GT4s.
Pole position in the category was earned by the #55 HHC Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 driven by the young driver pairing of William Tregurtha and Stuart Middleton. Both Silver drivers, it was Stuart Middleton, who drove the first stint and set the quickest time of the pair, who set a 1:22.580. Tregurtha then went out and set a 1:22.885 to put the Roecliffe-based team on class pole for Sunday’s two-hour race.
Photo: Paren Raval ( (instagram.com/parenraval)
Second in class was the #51 Lanan Racing entry with the driver pairing of Alex Reed and David Pittard. Pittard was second quickest in Q3 with a 1:22.605 after which Alex Reed set a 1:22.605.
Completing the Ginetta qualifying 1-2-3 were 2016 class champions Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson in the #501 PMW Expo Racing / Optimum Motorsport entry with an aggregated time of 2:46.031.
The lights go out for Round 3 of the 2017 British T Championship at 13:10 on Sunday April 30.
