The scene is set for an enthralling two-and-a-half-hour race battle at Spa-Francorchamps today after a nail-biting qualifying session for the fifth round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship. Peter Kox topped the timesheets for the Reiter Engineering team, the Dutch driver making a triumphant return to the series after a six-year absence.
Kox lapped the Belgian Grand Prix circuit in 2m 24.611s, some six seconds inside the official lap record, at the wheel of his Lamborghini Gallardo. "It's great to be back in the championship," said Peter, who will share his car tomorrow with Blancpain watches chief Marc Hayek, "and it's pleasing to set the best time. The car was great today and we had no problems to speak of."
The Lamborghini was ahead of the game by just three-tenths of a second, Richard Westbrook attempting but failing to lift the pole for the Trackspeed Porsche team in the closing minutes of qualifying. The Rosso Verde Ferrari 430 Scuderia went third fastest, Allan Simonsen at the wheel.
There was a close three-way battle in the G4 class, with championship leaders Christian Dick and Jamie Stanley's Speedworks Motorsport Ginetta G50 ending the session less than five-hundredths of a second ahead of the KTM X-Bow driven by Rory Butcher and Benjamin Harvey. "It's great to maintain our 100 per cent pole record," said Stanley, "but it's a long race tomorrow and tyres are going to be crucial."
Continuing brake problems blunted the performance of the Predator CCTV Ferrari of Adam Wilcox and Phil Burton, and the GT3 Racing Viper of Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott. Both cars missed chunks of the session, and the Viper was described as almost undrivable by Scott because of a glitch in the anti-lock braking electronics.
Tomorrow's "Spa 150" is the longest race on the Avon Tyres British GT calendar this season, with two mandatory pit stops, refuelling and a host of sporting regulation tweaks designed to keep the teams on their toes.
British GT is sponsored by UK tyre manufacturer Avon Tyres and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and The Independent.
KNOCKHILL RESULTS ARE CONFIRMED
The results of round four of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Knockhill will stand as published, it was decided today.
Clerk of the Course Bernard Cottrell heard a protest by the MTECH team concerning the collision between its car, driven by Matt Griffin, and the Preci-Spark Ascari of Godfrey Jones which resulted in the Ferrari's retirement from the race.
Cottrell dismissed the protest and also took no action over other race incidents.
Provisional qualifying times, Spa-Francorchamps 4/6/2010
Overall & GT31 Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo Peter Kox (NED) / Marc Hayek (SUI) 2m 24.611s2 Trackspeed Porsche 911 GT3R David Ashburn / Richard Westbrook 2m 24.974s3 Rosso Verde Ferrari 430 Scud Hector Lester / Allan Simonsen (DEN) 2m 25.657s4 RPM Motorsport Ford GT Philip Walker / Alex Mortimer 2m 27.117s5 Barwell-Cadena Aston DBRS9 Paul Whight / Michael Bentwood 2m 27.209s6 Chad Ferrari 430 Scud Paul Warren / Tom Ferrier 2m 27.706s7 Chad Ferrari 430 Scud Chris Hyman / Dan Brown 2m 28.012s8 MTECH Ferrari 430 Scud Duncan Cameron / Matt Griffin (IRL) 2m 28.058s9 Trackspeed Porsche 911 GT3R Oliver Bryant / Oliver Morley 2m 29.283s10 Chad Ferrari 430 Jose Balbiani (ARG) / Juan Garriz (ARG) 2m 30.409s11 Preci-Spark Ascari David Jones / Godfrey Jones 2m 30.920s12 Predator CCTV Ferrari 430 Scud Phil Burton / Adam Wilcox 2m 31.050s13 GT3 Racing Viper CC Craig Wilkins / Aaron Scott 2m 32.084s
G4 Class1 Speedworks Ginetta G50 Christian Dick / Jamie Stanley 2m 40.558s2 Prestige/ABG KTM X-Bow Benjamin Harvey / Rory Butcher 2m 40.606s3 Team Osborne Ginetta G50 Joe Osborne / Osman Yusuf 2m 42.353s
