Optimum Motorsport and Aston Martin’s Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam claimed pole position for Sunday’s two-hour British GT race at Spa-Francorchamps earlier today.
Haigh and Adam will be joined on the front row by the Jetstream Motorsport Aston Martin of Graham Davidson and Maxime Martin, while Team Parker Racing’s #7 Bentley lines up third thanks to Ian Loggie and Callum Macleod who set qualifying’s fastest individual time.
Having started the day by topping the timing screens in Free Practice 1, the #75 Optimum Motorsport Aston Martin of Haigh and Adam was always going to be a force to be reckoned with in qualifying.
The duo duly delivered on their early promise by claiming their second pole position of the season and first since the opening race of the year at Oulton Park.
Haigh set the early pace in the Am session, leading the way from the #47 Aston of Graham Davidson and Jordan Witt’s #24 RJN Motorsport Nissan.
Shaun Balfe moved up to fourth in Balfe Motorsport’s McLaren before reigning champion Rick Parfitt Jnr upped the ante aboard Team Parker Racing’s #1 Bentley. His 2m22.105s was enough to top the session ahead of Haigh, Davidson, Witt and Balfe, with the top-six completed by debutant Remon Vos in the #30 RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG.
When the GT3 Pro session got underway, it was no surprise to see Adam put the #75 Aston Martin back on top of the timesheets with a 2m19.281s. That was enough for a combined advantage of 0.175s over the #47 Aston Martin, now piloted by Maxime Martin, while Callum Macleod’s session-leading 2m18.735s helped Team Parker Racing’s #7 Bentley vault up to third.
The #11 TF Sport Aston Martin of Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim claimed fourth ahead of the RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG shared by Vos and Tom Onslow-Cole. Rob Bell helped Balfe Motorsport’s McLaren take, with Parfitt Jnr and Ryan Ratcliffe having to settle for seventh in the other Bentley eventually.
Flick Haigh reflected on the qualifying session, “Pole feels amazing, especially as we’ve had some bad luck the past few rounds, so it’s nice to be up where we were at Oulton Park. We’ve done a lot of set-up work and we were here a few weeks ago for a two-day test so I felt confident with the car and the circuit. I’m really happy it has all come together.”
The top-eight is completed by Witt and Struan Moore’s RJN Motorsport Nissan, while championship leaders Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen start tomorrow’s two-hour race in 13th.
