Tim Harvey will start both races from pole position this weekend after setting the pace in qualifying for the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Rockingham.
Championship leader Harvey was happy as he lapped the 1.94 mile circuit 0.391 seconds ahead of main rival Michael Caine in the sunny qualifying session, “Four-tenths on Michael Caine is quite a nice gap,” said Harvey. “The set-up is working really well.”
Caine suffered as the session was red-flagged by Tony Gilham’s Collins-ReDesign Porsche spinning in to the grave trap and the had problems with his car after touching the wall on the exit of the flat out turn one. “My first run was ruined by a red flag and then I clipped the wall and knocked the tracking out.” Despite the problems the Newmarket based driver still managed to set the two second fastest times of the session.
Pro-am1 front-runner Ollie Jackson put in an impressive performance as he took third place on the grid ahead of pro drivers Jelley, Hankey, Bradshaw and Geddie with a 1:20.764. “I got the most out of the tyres and I’m well chuffed with that,” said Jackson, “This is where I want to be.”
Archie Hamilton put in an impressive performance as he studied team-mate Harvey’s data, “I’m very happy,” he said. “The car was perfect; I’ve gained a lot of confidence from looking at Tim Harvey’s data,” Hamilton finished the session eighth place for race 1 and seventh for race 2.
Jonas Gelzinis continued to impress on another new track finishing ninth overall, just ahead of Tony Gilham who only managed to set one fastest lap before sliding off track. Gilham felt he could of done better after admitting he was set for a lap in the one minute twenties before his off, but after receiving mechanical assistance out of the gravel trap his session was over. Having only set one lap time he will have nothing to lose tomorrow when he starts from the back of the grid for race two.
Pro-am2 was close as usual as Mark Hazell and Steve Parish battled it out, both sharing a class pole position as the session came to an end. “Qualifying went well,” said Hazell. “But I was on a better lap when the red flag came out.”
Glenn McMenamin, was disappointed not to have finished higher up the grid before admitting he has to improve his overall performance in the future. “I need to learn how to manage qualifying better; there was a quicker lap in there,” he said.
Photo credit: Vince Pettit Photography
