Second year Avon Tyres British GT Championship racer Ahmad Al Harthy delivered a career-best qualifying performance at Oulton Park International Circuit on Saturday, 19th April, to secure pole position for the opening round of the 2014 season by more than half a second.Showcasing superb pace from the off, the Oman Racing Team driver was in sensational form around the 2.69-mile Cheshire track and posted a quickest lap of 1m36.147 seconds (100.79mph) to top the packed 31 car grid with his second pole position in British GT.Notably, the performance marked the Muscat racer’s first pole position at the wheel of his Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 on only his second race weekend in the car – the first outing coming in the Blancpain Endurance Series last weekend at Monza in Italy.Hooking-up a tremendous lap, the 32-year-old steered the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Tourism, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Nawras, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group/Aston Martin Oman-liveried car to a time almost 0.6 seconds quicker than his nearest rival. So rapid was Ahmad during the opening qualifying session, his second quickest time was also good enough for pole.“Early in the session I was panicking as there was no space, there were so many cars on track so it made finding the space I needed for a quick lap very hard”, said Ahmad, “We kept making small changes to the car during practice, focusing on our own pace as always, and in qualifying everything was perfect. I’m delighted with my pace and the team did a great job with the set-up of the car.“There’s no better place to start the first race of the British GT season from than pole position, it’s also my first pole in the Aston Martin which is a great feeling. I managed to put together two laps which were very strong, both would have given me pole for race one – it’s a fantastic start.”Team-mate Michael Caine took over the Motorbase Performance-engineered Aston Martin for the round two qualifying session and he succeeded in maintaining the excellent competitiveness by securing sixth on the grid for the second of the weekend’s races. Caine’s fastest lap was a time of 1m35.277 seconds (101.71mph), just 0.3 seconds shy of the second row.“We’re very happy where Michael qualified in his session”, added Ahmad, “Both starting positions for round one and two are very respectable and we have a good chance to begin the championship with some strong results. Reliability will, of course, be very important.”With no track activity at Oulton Park today, rounds one and two of the 2014 Avon Tyres British GT Championship will take place on Bank Holiday Monday, 21st April, at 11.15 and 15.45 respectively.