Azteca Motorsport got off to the perfect start with their new Mosler MT900 by taking pole position for the first round of the British Endurance Championship (BEC).
Javier Morcillo set the fastest time of 2:06.365 around the Silvertsone GP layout, clinching pole by nearly two seconds over the GT3 Racing Dodge Viper.
“Easy, in a way easy,” said Javier after qualifying about having to adapt for to the new car. “The car is just better in every way over the Porsche, so in that respect easy but it takes a lot to get the last but from the car. To actually use it very easy but to get the last bit is very difficult. We've been working a lot to find out how fast we can go, especially in the fast corners. That's the biggest difference.”
Incumbent champions MJC set the third fastest time, Keith Robinson peaking at 2:09.854 in the second half of the session, after Witt Gamski ran at the beginning of the 40 minute session. The bright yellow Ultima qualified fourth fastest with the first of two Mtech Ferrari 430 GT3 – in the hands of British GT pairing Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin.
They had been one of several to take a turn at the top of the timesheets as times fell during the session. The Viper was also fastest at one point, as was the GT Class 3 Invitation KTM X-Bow team led by Michael Mallock.
Priocept Racing took Production pole in 20th overall
Production pole went to the Priocept Racing Lotus Exige, a late entry for Dan Norris–Jones sometime Clio Cup racer Fulvio Mussi.
The Rollcentre Mosler was the major casualty of the session. With Martin Short behind the wheel a chain reaction of failures led to the car dropping oil around the circuit before a small fire. The oil caught out several following, the no.36 Topcats Marcos was one, before the works entered Mazda MX5 went off, triggering a red flag while it was towed back into the pits.
Martin Short's Rollcentre Mosler had engine failure, dropping oil and knocking itself out of the day's running
With a three hour race ahead Morcillo is unsure whether he and co-driver Manual Cintrano can hold off the chasing pack.
“We really don't know. We have two problems, first is the lack of knowledge of the actual racing of the car and the fuel consumption which is going to be a huge and the biggest of the problems is actually the wheels. We haven't received the wheels for the car, so we're running such small wheels – they're actually smaller than the Porsche ran. So we will run out of tyres very quickly we don't know how quickly, but we will definitely run out.”
