Ashley Sutton and Ant Whorton-Eales continued where they left off at Brands Hatch by setting the pace in Renault UK Clio Cup qualifying at Donington Park.
The two fought to the wire for victory in the only race action two weeks ago, and once again they could hardly be separated in Leicestershire as they were the only drivers in the field to dip under the 1m 17s barrier.
Sutton just edged out his more experienced rival by 0.031s for the Round Three pole position, though SV Racing’s Whorton-Eales pipped his Team Pyro rival to the Round Four top spot courtesy of his best second fastest time.
Whorton-Eales team-mate Jack Mitchell best in the rest in third, finishing up nearly four tenths of a second adrift of provisional pole on his return to a circuit he won twice at last season en-route to the Ginetta Junior title.
Brett Smith, Jordan Stilp, Ash Hand and Paul Rivett were in close pursuit, with fourth to seventh separated by less than quarter of a second, while Dan Holland bouncing back from his part of the Brands Hatch incident to secure a fourth row grid start.
Freddie Hunt secured ninth ahead of Team Cooksport duo Charlie Ladell and Rory Collingbourne, with Ben Seyfried topping the Masters Cup runners in thirteenth behind George Jackson, the latter’s JamSport team-mate Tom Grundy completing row seven despite an early trip through the Redgate gravel.
For Round Four there are no major changes through the field, with Mitchell set to line up third ahead of Stilp, Smith, Hand, Rivett, Holland, Hunt, Collingbourne, Ladell and Jackson.
Full qualifying results can be found here.
The Clio Cup drivers are back in action this afternoon for the rescheduled opening race of the season from Brands Hatch at 17:30, with Rounds Three and Four following tomorrow (19th April).
