Ash Hand secured a double pole position in qualifying for Rounds Five and Six of the 2015 Renault UK Clio Cup at Thruxton.
Hand set the pace in the pre-event test day at the circuit last month and firmly carried that momentum into the thirty minute qualifying session.
The peak time of the session proved to be the final ten minutes, the whole field having spent time in the pitlane to change tyres mid-session.
Hand proved to be a class above the competition around the high-speed circuit, continually improving his time to finish up with a best lap of 1m 23.321s.
That put him six tenths of a second clear of his Team Pyro team-mate Ashley Sutton for the opening race – a front row that is replicated for race two of the weekend as well.
Dan Holland put in an impressive time to secure third on the grid for the opener ahead of three-time champion Paul Rivett, those two both lapping within a second of the pole position time.
A great run by James Colburn saw him post the fifth fastest time on his first outing with Bubble and Kick Racing, just ahead of Jamsport’s George Jackson, SV Racing’s Ant Whorton-Eales and 20 Ten Racing’s Jordan Stilp.
For championship leader Whorton-Eales, it was a session to forget with track limits infringements taking away two lap times that would have given him a pair of top four starts, leaving him with work to do from seventh and eleventh in the two races.
Rory Collingbourne and Jack Mitchell complete the top ten for race one ahead of Charlie Ladell, newcomer Jon Maybin, sole Masters Cup runner Mark Howard, Tom Grundy and Rory Green.
While the top five remain the same for race two, Collingbourne is an improved sixth on the grid ahead of Stilp, Mitchell, Jackson, Ladell, Whorton-Eales, Maybin, Howard, Grundy and Green.
Full qualifying results can be found here.
