Rob Collard and Sandy Mitchell dominated British GT Championship Qualifying at Snetterton for Barwell Motorsport, in a blink and you’ll miss it session that could be crucial in the overall championship competition. 

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In GT4, the DTO Motorsport Ginetta kept up its great run of form as Aston Millar – subbing for Stuart Middleton this weekend – took pole for race one, while Zac Meakin kept up his championship fight alongside Jack Brown by claiming race two pole for Optimum Motorsport

As always with weekends featuring two races, the first part of qualifying – contested by the Ams – sets the grid for race one, while the Pros set the grid for race two, and also start race two. 

Race One

Compared to practice & Pre-Qualifying, an odd thing called ‘blue sky’ appeared for qualifying and with it, some confusion as set-ups that worked in the cooler conditions earlier on started to become quite loose as the track temperatures increased. A number of drivers – including pole-sitter Rob Collard – mentioned the lack of grip they were experiencing.

That, perhaps, explains why there was action right from the off as Morgan Tillbrook had a spin coming out of Wilson in his Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3. It didn’t disrupt too much of the running, with Kevin Tse first to set a time, but maybe a second or so down in his 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG GT3 after a slower final sector.

As times swarmed in, the order changed regularly with Alex Martin – in one of the two Barwell Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2s – bouncing back from his first effort being deleted to go fastest one lap later with a 1m48.038sec to go half-a-second clear of Collard, with Giacomo Petrobelli in third for Blackthorn and Mark Smith hitting fourth early on for Paddock Motorsport.

Despite feeling as though the car didn’t have as much grip as he expected, Collard was flying in his Italian machine. With two minutes to go he started to light up the timing screens and a 1m47.899sec confirmed as the first – and only – driver to go into the 1m47s before then improving to a 1m47.861sec to just widen his margin of success over Martin, who couldn’t better his time and settled for the outside of the front-row. 

Third, and leaving it relatively late himself, was Ian Loggie in the second of the 2 Seas AMGs but more than half-a-second off the pace in his silver three-pointed star. He was 0.158sec quicker than Richard Neary, who put in a flying final lap to put himself third initially, before being shoved down a place by his GT Cup Championship teammate as the chequered flag came out. 

Petrobelli took fifth in his Aston Martin Vantage, a tenth clear of Sacha Kakad who had a great session in the J&S Racing Audi R8 LMS whilst having Shaun Balfe & John Ferguson breathing down his neck in their McLaren and BMW respectively. Smith rounded out the top 10 – 0.090sec clear of Tse, who couldn’t quite find his groove around Snetterton to improve his starting position. 

Compared to the GT3s, who were setting their fastest laps at the end, it seemed as though the GT4s were only having enough life in the tyre to go for one, maybe two, laps right at the start of the session which made a strong start absolutely crucial. 

Indeed, just like in GT3, it was a Paddock car that hit the ground running with Adam Hatfield powering the McLaren Artura to the top spot, but then it was a case of the usual suspects making their presence felt as Aston Millar – not usually in the DTO Ginetta, but covering for Middleton who’s competing at Italian GT this weekend – was like a black and white missile, and his 1m55.435sec was looking like an unbeatable time. 

And that’s what it proved to be, but by the slenderest of margins as Mikey Porter did everything he could to put the Forsetti Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT4 onto pole but fell just short – he’ll start on the front-row by just a 0.003sec margin. 

Jack Brown was the only other driver who got close to the front-running pace, and he ended third in the Optimum Motorsport Artura a massive eight-tenths clear of Will Moore in the Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang, who snuck himself into fourth just ahead of Hatfield. 

The second Mustang driven by Marco Signoretti will start sixth, just ahead of Sai Sanjay’s RACE LAB Artura, with Charles Dawson taking eighth overall and pole in the Pro-Am class.

Race Two

You couldn’t keep your eyes off the action as the Ams handed over to the Pros and the qualifying session became a case of fine margins and just how many cars you could fit into the blink of an eye.

That was demonstrated right from the off as Tom Gamble – partnering Mark Radcliffe in the Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 – put in an early marker of a 1m45.689sec only for that to be beaten almost immediately as Phil Keen went ahead by 0.012sec in the 2 Seas Mercedes he shares with Loggie. Behind the pair, Maxi Götz demonstrated just how quickly he gets to grips with new circuits by going third, just 0.002sec down, with Sandy Mitchell another 0.162sec back in fourth.

From there, it was really a battle between that front four to see who could claim the honours for what will be Round 7 of the 2024 season. Mitchell struck first with a 1m45.594sec, but then Götz went ahead by 0.040sec before – you’ll guess where this is going – Keen took a whole tenth off the provisional pole time to clock a 1m45.454sec. 

Keen’s time looked as though it was going to be enough to take the top spot, but no one counted for the never-say-die attitude of Mitchell. The former champion showed why he’s one of the fastest GT drivers around at the moment as he wound up a remarkable lap in the black, white and blue Huracán and as the chequered flag fell he put in a monster of a lap – 1m45.373sec, 0.081sec quicker than anyone else. 

That left Keen in second – still to get a pole this season – with Götz third and Gamble fourth. Sam Neary copied father Richard’s good form in the first part of qualifying to go fifth, a smidgen quicker than Callum Macleod – the pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3s occupying the third row of the grid. 

A spin denied Ricky Collard the chance to replicate his dad as he qualified seventh ahead of Marcus Clutton in the Garage 59 McLaren. 

Max Hesse’s first British GT qualifying session ended with ninth, 0.903sec off the pole but 0.032sec ahead of Adam Smalley, who rounded out the quick 10 in his Duckhams-sponsored McLaren. 

GT4 proved to be a case of not letting competition get the better of them twice, as Zac Meakin took over from Jack Brown in the Optimum Artura and blasted away from the competition. 

Granted, he didn’t do it right from the first lap, but it was the second so he wasn’t hanging around. Initially, it was Matt Nicoll-Jones who was doing a great job in the Academy Mustang with Dan Vaughan’s Supra and Matt Cowley’s Mercedes-AMG GT4 following him along. But then, Charlie Robertson demonstrated what has been a rare flash of speed for the Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 this weekend by going to the top.

Not that it lasted long, as Seb Morris powered the Team Parker Racing Mercedes to the top and then Meakin set his decisive 1m55.223sec just halfway into the session.

While he wasn’t troubled at the top, there was a good scrap for who would join him on the front which ended up going the way of Jordan Albert – a just reward for what has been some good showcases of the underlying pace that Steller Motorsport Audi R8 LMS has. He’s 0.108sec down with a lap that muscled him ahead of Freddie Tomlinson in the DTO Ginetta.

Will Orton made it four manufacturers in the top four as he powered the Pro-Am Forsetti Aston he shares with Marc Warren into fourth – 0.005sec ahead of class competitor Morris who rounded out a top five separated by only 0.418sec. 

Sunday’s pair of one-hour races get underway at 11.25 and 16.20 UK time respectively, and you’ll be able to watch them live on GT REPORT!

 
 

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