AT DONINGTONSEAT Cupra Championship front-runner Andrew Herron achieved his best qualifying performance since graduating to the prestigious category at the start of the year during an incredibly competitive session at Donington Park this afternoon, Saturday, 3rd May; the Northern Irishman missing out on a maiden pole position by just 0.005 seconds.Andrew, who resides in Dromore, Co. Down and is supported by Brian Herron Contracts, lapped Donington’s 1.96-mile National Circuit in 1m 14.792 seconds (94.20mph) during round six qualifying to secure himself a debut front-row start at the wheel of his 300bhp SEAT racer – a time well inside the 2007 circuit record.Holding a top three slot for the majority of the 20-minute period, Andrew went one place better on his penultimate lap to line-up alongside JHR Developments team-mate, and current championship leader, Robert Lawson for the second of tomorrow’s races.Impossible to quantify in terms of distance, the tiniest of margins between the two JHR drivers was almost replicated behind with just 0.069 seconds splitting the top four.During the earlier round five session Andrew was on great form too and posted the third fastest time with a lap of 1m 14.950 seconds (94.01mph), just 0.178 seconds shy of the front of the grid.Reflecting on today’s action, the 19-year-old said: “My first flying lap in the second session was good, I hooked it up brilliantly down through Craners but when I came to Coppice I braked, got back on the power, but the car didn’t pick up straight away so we lost a bit of time. We don’t know what caused that but the team is going to look at it.“I’m really happy with our performance this weekend, third on the grid for the first race and then my best start in SEAT of second for race two is really good – it’s where I need to be. I don’t think you can even measure the gap between Robert (Lawson) and myself, five 1,000ths of a second is so small!”Andrew added: “I’m glad I’m showing my real pace now, we’ve always known it’s there but after Brands and Rockingham I started to wonder what we had to do to get some better fortune. This weekend has started brilliantly, now I hope we can have two good races tomorrow and challenge for my first podium.”Round five of the 2008 SEAT Cupra Championship is timetabled to begin at 11.55 tomorrow, Sunday, 4th May, at Donington Park with the sixth round of the season set to conclude the weekend’s racing at 17.50. Each encounter will be contested over 16 laps.Provisional 2008 SEAT Cupra Championship Driver Standings (after Rd4)1st Robert Lawson, 70pts; 2nd Carl Breeze, 62pts; 9th Andrew Herron, 21pts