Michael Meadows fired a clear warning shot to his rivals during testing at Oulton Park ahead of rounds seven and eight this weekend as he topped the day with a rime over three-quarters of a second faster than rivals Dean Stoneman and Daniel Lloyd.
With mixed weather around the UK Oulton Park benefited from the sunshine across the two sessions which saw the first running of the Porsche’s since Thruxton six weeks ago. While Meadows topped the Pro class Karl Leonard and Peter Smallwood lead the way in Pro-Am1 and Pro-Am2.
With tumbling times towards the end of the second session Meadows was surprised to see himself so far ahead of his rivals. “I expected to be at the front, but not with a gap like that.” he said.
Despite the advantage Meadows still believes he can find more time. “I’d like to think there is a bit more to come and I think a 1m22.5s lap would be reasonable for pole in qualifying tomorrow. I want to try and find two or three tenths.”
Lloyd also thinks there is time to find. “It was a bit frustrating because of Michael’s time. We can see places where we need to find a bit of time and so we just need to concentrate on those and do the best we can.”
Leonard topped the Pro-Am1 class with an impressive time to finish fourth place overall, “To be honest I made a few mistakes and had a big moment at Old Hall on my best lap, so I’m a bit disappointed.” he said. “But I’ve got to be pleased with P4 overall. There is a bit of time left to come.”
Rory Butcher rounded out the top 5 while championship leader Jonas Gelzinis finished sixth following an off into the tyre wall at Druids in the first session.
Dan De Zille finished second fastest in Pro-Am1 and was happy to get some testing complete on dry weather. “That’s the first day of dry running after a lot of testing since Thruxton. We probably left the old tyres on too long, but it is another step forward and I’m a lot more comfortable in the car.” said De Zille.
