Luke Davenport took pole position in qualifying for the first of the weekend’s three Protyre Ginetta GT5 Challenge races at Oulton Park.
The Reflex Racing driver threatened the top spot throughout before finally lowering his effort to a lap time of 1:53.537s to seal the pole position by a comfortable margin of over half a second at the flag.
Will Burns set the initial pace in the 20-minute session for Academy Motorsport, initially three tenths clear of his rival before Davenport trimmed the cushion to a mere 0.046s as the times tightened up significantly.
In the closing stages of the session the Reflex Racing man finally went to the top for the first time, only for David Pittard to steal the pole position away from him seconds later.
However his joy was also brief as Davenport lapped even quicker on his next lap to take the first pole position of the season by a significant margin of 0.556s, Pittard joining him on the front row while Ginetta Junior refugee Oliver Basey-Fisher jumped up to third in the closing stages.
Brad Bailey finished fourth despite a brief early excursion, Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Jason Kenny finished eighth in his first qualifying session, while reigning G20 champion Matt Flowers had clutch-related dramas that limited him to 12th on his G40 debut.
G20 honours went the way of Stuart Pearson in 15th spot, Brian Murphy and Ian Ingram being his closest rivals.
