Aaron Mason took pole position for round three of the APR Volkswagen Racing Cup at Rockingham, coming out on top in a battle with team-mate Joe Fulbrook.
Oulton Park race winner Mason moved to the top of the timesheets in the second half of the 20-minute session, and stayed there until the flag dspite late pressure from Fulbrook, the latter now racing a new Golf GTI for the first time in place of his trusty Bora for AWM/Warranty Direct.
The early phase of the session was topped by the two KPM Racing Sciroccos of Martin Depper and Stewart Lines, the duo playing a tactical game as they towed each other around the Northamptonshire Motor Speedway circuit to dispose Henry Gilbert to third.
The KPM pair’s joy was short-lived however as AWM’s Mason and Fulbrook both went quicker than Depper’s best time, Mason then improving dramatically to move 0.779s clear of his team-mate and claim his first pole position of the season.
The fight looked won, but Fulbrook was not quite finished yet as he put in one final charge, just missing out by 0.141s as he joined his team-mate on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s first race.
Chris Levett was best of the rest in third, sharing row two with fellow Scirocco driver Depper, Phil House improving to fifth place ahead of the second KPM car of Lines.
Gilbert will line up seventh, while Team HARD’s, Andy Wilmot, Tom Barley and David Sutton rounded out the top 10, although Sutton’s session was brought to an end after only four laps when the HARD Scholarship winner’s Golf GTI lost power and pulled off the circuit exiting Deene.
Elsewhere, Oulton Park race two winner Ross Wylie qualified 11th, while reigning champion James Walker could only manage 13th in his Golf. David Fairbrother had an eventful session with two offs at Deene in his Slidesports/Pall-Ex Scirocco, while the unmissable pink Golf GTI of Mark Clynes ended the session in the gravel at Kirby.
