RJN Motorsport duo Struan Moore and Ricardo Sanchez claimed the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3’s maiden British GT pole position at Silverstone this afternoon, while there was also a first GT4 pole for Equipe Verschuur’s Finlay Hutchison and Daniel Mckay.
TF Sport couldn’t quite take its third GT3 pole in as many attempts but Mark Farmer and Nicki Thiim were still content with a place on the front row ahead of Jetstream Motorsport’s Graham Davidson and Maxime Martin.
Aston Martin also start on GT4’s front row tomorrow courtesy of Academy Motorsport’s Tom Wood and Jan Jonck, while Mark Murfitt and Michael Broadhurst’s Fox Motorsport Mercedes-AMG was best placed of the Pro/Am entries in third.
A record-breaking session also saw the individual qualifying benchmarks smashed in both classes thanks to Adam Christodoulou (Team ABBA Racing Mercedes-AMG) and Broadhurst.
The last GT3 pole position for a Silver crew also came at Silverstone 12 months ago, but this time it was all about RJN, Nissan, Ricardo Sanchez and Struan Moore who each claimed their maiden poles thanks to a supremely consistent performance.
Former GT Academy winner Sanchez, making his British GT debut this weekend, set the ball rolling in the opening session against the class’ Am contingent. Mark Farmer, who took an individual pole last time out at Snetterton, came closest to toppling the Mexican after lapping within 0.7s, while Rick Parfitt Jnr’s Team Parker Bentley was another 0.2s further back.
Sanchez’s natural advantage over the Am drivers in Q1 is balanced by the extra ballast carried by Silver crews, which would make it tougher for Moore in the second session. However, a marginally faster time than his main rival – Farmer’s co-driver Nicki Thiim – helped the GT-R extend its advantage in the final standings to 0.714s.
“We’re all really chuffed. Obviously it’s my first time racing with Ricardo [Sanchez] in British GT, so to get the pole together is pretty special, and especially as it’s with the older-spec Nissan GT-R.” said Moore.
“It’s been a difficult start to the year so to come here and put that right feels good. Now we need to finish the job tomorrow.”
Instead of challenging for pole, TF Sport only just held on to second after Jetstream’s Maxime Martin lapped 0.5s faster than his AMR stablemate. Just 0.010s separated the two Aston Martins on the combined timesheets, while Callum Macleod’s rapid effort helped the #7 Team Parker Bentley vault from eighth to fourth.
Team ABBA Racing’s Mercedes-AMG also picked up a couple of places thanks to Adam Christodoulou who lowered his own British GT3 qualifying lap record at Silverstone to 1m59.095s. Ryan Ratcliffe finished sixth in the second Team Parker Bentley he shares with Parfitt Jnr, Optimum’s Jonny Adam and Flick Haigh were seventh, and Howard and Darren Turner finished eighth in the Beechdean AMR V12 Vantage.
Championship leaders Lee Mowle and Yelmer Buurman start 12th, the same position from where they won at Rockingham earlier this season.
GT4: CONSISTENCY KEY TO VERSCHUUR’S FIRST POLE
A team admin error denied Equipe Verschuur its first British GT4 pole on debut at Oulton Park earlier this year, but there was no mistake at Silverstone where Finlay Hutchison and Daniel Mckay were comfortably fastest in the combined qualifying times.
Hutchison was the only driver to break the 2m12s barrier in Q1 where his primary opposition came from Matthew George whose Generation AMR Aston Martin lapped 0.2s shy of the pace-setting McLaren, while Academy Motorsport’s Will Moore was another half-a-second further back in third.
Ben Green’s Century BMW, the second Academy Aston Martin of Tom Wood, and Lewis Proctor’s Tolman Motorsport McLaren completed the top-six at the halfway mark.
George’s decision to race two cars this weekend meant his Am co-driver James Holder would be up against the Pros in the second session. That effectively gave Verschuur’s duo a 0.7s head-start against their nearest Silver Cup opposition, an advantage Mckay was unlikely to squander.
Indeed, the Scot extended the pair’s lead in the final reckoning to 0.893s over Jan Jonck, who moved the Academy Aston Martin he shares with Wood up three places to secure a place on the front row.
There was also an impressive all-round performance from Fox Motorsport’s Mark Murfitt and Michael Broadhurst who claimed Pro/Am pole and third overall aboard their Mercedes-AMG. Murfitt was fastest of the Am drivers and seventh overall in Q1 before Broadhurst set fastest time of the day and a British GT4 qualifying record in the second session.
Fourth went to Matt Nicoll-Jones and Moore’s Academy Aston Martin, the pair finishing 0.019s shy of third in the combined classification, while Ben Tuck and Green’s Century BMW was only 0.015s further back in fifth.
Nick Jones and Scott Malvern’s Team Parker Mercedes-AMG completed the top-six ahead of Jordan Albert and Proctor’s McLaren and the first of Steller Motorsport’s Toyotas driven by Sennan Fielding and Tom Cannan.
The three-hour, blue riband #Silverstone500 race starts at 13:10. Watch it live on the British GT Facebook page and website, as well as SRO’s GT World Youtube channel.
