Championship frontrunners Ecurie Ecosse extended their GT3 pole tally in 2014 to five from eight attempts with a brace of fastest times in qualifying at Spa Francorchamps in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship yesterday.
Marco Attard was first to set pole in the #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 in the Amateur session with a time of 2min 25.309secs, whilst team-mate Alexander Sims did the same in the Pro session with a 2min 21.381secs.
The team adds Friday’s poles to those secured at Oulton Park, Rockingham and Snetterton as they attend to regain GT3 driver and team championship leads from rivals Beechdean AMR.
For Saturday’s first race, for which the amateur drivers take the start, Attard will grid up alongside Oman Racing Team’s Ahmad Al Harthy and ahead of Beechdean AMR’s Andrew Howard in their Aston Martins.
For the later professional driver-started race, Sims finds himself alongside the Beechdean Aston with Jonny Adam at the wheel and in front of local star driver Wolfgang Reip in the Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Nissan GT-R.
Qualifying at the fabulous Spa Francorchamps circuit did provide a red flag in the first session caused by the #69 APO / Alex Osborne Porsche 911 with James May at the wheel, after red flags made appearances in both of the morning’s practice sessions.
In the GT4 class, Academy Motorsport secured a brace of GT4 class poles with Oli Basey-Fisher and then Matt Nichol-Jones heading the order, Basey-Fisher with a 2min 37.347secs and Nichol-Jones with a 2min 35.473secs.
James May qualified in second for race one with Andrew Jarman in class third in the #49 TF Sport Aston Martin. For race two, second in class for the start will be Bradley Ellis in the #46 Twisted Team Parker G55 Ginetta whilst the third-placed qualifier was Gavan Kershaw in the #77 Lotus Evora.
Saturday’s opening 60 minute race will start at 09:15 with race two scheduled to start at 13:50 (all times local).
Quotes
Benny Simonsen, #3 Rosso Verde / Hector Lester Ferrari 458 Italia“It's been a difficult day. We didn't get to do any practice laps, but we did fix the issue for qualifying. We managed three laps, and as this is my first time at Spa, that makes it all the more challenging. It's been an unlucky day, we just have to see what we can do in the race. I'll take the weather as it comes, and anything that can help is fine by us!”
Ahmad Al Harthy, #4 Oman Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3“It was a mixed session, it was unlucky for Michael, but to be honest it's been disappointing all round. I'm happy with starting near the front, obviously, but we're disappointed we didn't get pole. That's a nice problem! However, we felt there was more to come out of the performance. We're not going to use racing driver excuses, there was just more to be had. We started badly at Silverstone, but we managed to overcome, so hopefully we can repeat that here. The car and the team are certainly good enough to overcome anything in our way.”
Andrew Jarman, #49 TF Sport Aston Martin GT4 Challenge:“It went fairly well today. We were third and sixth/seventh, that's a reasonable result for us. It does look like it is going to be wet tomorrow, which throws everything out the window. Two days of dry running makes things that little more difficult. We are fairly confident though. The wet isn't an excuse though, it's always good to get the data and we've still qualified well. The only thing we've missed is a chance to make our wet setup. It's going to be tough to go back to the top of GT4, it's close and it seems like more are joining the title race. There's four or five cars who can win this, and the wet tomorrow could add to the race. Our target is a podium, and we're after more wins after our recent drought.”
Oli-Basey Fisher, #55 Academy Motorsport G55 Ginetta GT4“Everyone is a challenger here, on the long straights the likes of the Astons and Porsche are strong, but we proved we can be just as good too. We have a real chance of winning, just like everyone else. In the wet, we're not sure as we've not tested in the wet, hopefully the car will adapt and do well.”
Matt Nicoll-Jones, #55 Academy Motorsport G55 Ginetta GT4“Qualifying was perfect, we couldn't get any more than maybe a bigger gap, but pole is pole! Our performance tomorrow depends on whether the more powerful cars get ahead or not. If we get a gap, we can do well. If they get ahead, we're in trouble.”
Gavan Kershaw, #77 ISSY Racing Lotus Evora GT4“We're happy with today, it was close and there was certainly plenty of traffic to contend with in GT4. I don't know where this weather keeps coming from, so we're reluctant to go all out on the dry, but we'll certainly take third for tomorrow! My concern tomorrow isn't the weather, it's the difficulties of spray. Regardless, it's all about getting around the hairpin, so we need to maximise it there. We've tested the Lotus here, and Oz did a Britcar race here, so we know it's good. This track allows us to stretch the car's performance. We'll have a good run for our money with the Ginettas and we were surprised that Dan Cammish and Barrie Baxter weren't higher on the grid, they'll be good competition."
Marco Attard, #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3“Qualifying was excellent, we couldn't wish for more than two poles. I'm happy, as earlier in the day, I was a little off the pace, but we all did a great job in qualifying. Spa is a great track to be at, you have to excel at Eau Rouge and you've done half the battle. The Beechdean duo of Howard and Adam will be the biggest threat. We're always watching out for them, and we expect Al Harthy and the Porsches to do well. We're surprised by Ferrari's results today, but they can get it together tomorrow and be a threat.”
