Equipe Verschuur have been stripped of their double pole position in GT4 ahead of the opening two races of the 2018 British GT Championship at Oulton Park on Monday.
The Dutch squad looked to have sealed a dream start to their full debut in the series – provisionally clinching top spot for both races one and two thanks to strong laps from young British duo Finlay Hutchison and Daniel McKay in their #10 McLaren 570S.
However, the European GT4 Series stalwarts were quickly excluded from the order and pushed to the back of the grid after a glaring infringement came to light following qualifying’s conclusion.
A driver mix-up saw Hutchison and McKay qualify in the wrong order, the former being sent out in the first 10-minute segment despite having been scheduled to compete in the second and final GT4 group.
As a result, both drivers were forced to forfeit their poles, handing it over to Callum Pointon, who initially parked his #55 HHC Motorsport Ginetta G55 in second a further 0.2 seconds behind Hutchison’s pace-setting time.
Callum Pointon inherited race one pole. (Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography)
McKay meanwhile sees his pole position inherited by the #66 Team Parker Racing Mercedes AMG-GT4 of Scott Malvern, after a tantalising battle between the pair saw the latter fall only 0.052 seconds short of the original pole marker.
Joining Pointon on the front-row for race one will be the #4 Tolman Motorsport McLaren 570S of Michael O’Brien, whilst ex-BTCC battler Will Burns lines up alongside Malvern at the head of the field for race two in the #50 HHC Motorsport Ginetta.
McKay’s exclusion handed race two pole to Malvern. (Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography)
