Caine and Harvey share Carrera Cup poles at Brands
Michael Caine and Tim Harvey claimed a pole position each in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB during qualifying at Brands Hatch today (Saturday 1 May) ahead of rounds five and six of the championship. Ollie Jackson (Addison Lee Motorbase) headed pro-am1 for both races, while Steve Parish (Addison Lee Motorbase) and Mark Hazell (JHR) shared the top places in pro-am2.
Caine (Motorbase Performance) set a cracking pace on his first set of tyres to take pole for Sunday's opening race with a best lap of 1m28.445s. Generally, the session times got a little slower as qualifying progressed and so Caine brought a halt to Tim Harvey's run of four consecutive poles. "We just needed to stop Harvey," said Caine. "On my second run I got tangled up in traffic," he added as Harvey clinched pole for round six with the top second best qualifying lap.
"The throttle cable slipped and I didn't have full throttle for the first run," said Harvey who, nevertheless, was less than three-hundredths of a second slower than Caine for round five and then on pole by a fifth of a second for round six. However, with rain forecast for Sunday, the balance of power could shift again as Harvey bids to extend his winning sequence beyond four races.
Third fastest for both races was Glynn Geddie (Team Parker Racing), who was closer to Caine and Harvey than he had been at Thruxton and Rockingham. "We've made a big improvement since Rockingham," said the young Scot, who has the pace to run with the two leaders in Sunday's races.
With fourth and fifth places overall, Jackson again set the pro-am1 pace with impressive pace against the pro drivers. "There's still a bit more time left in the car, but I'm four-tenths closer to Michael Caine today," said Jackson of his Motorbase team mate and benchmark.
Sharing second and third in pro-am1 were Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) and Tony Gilham (Collins Redesign Racing), with Gelzinis belying his very limited track experience with a strong run.
"I still want to be faster, but it's a very difficult circuit and qualifying is very important," said Gelzinis. "There was a lot of traffic and I tried to hang back at the start, but didn't get a clear lap," said Gilham.
Stephen Jelley (Team Parker Racing) and Charlie Bateman (Motorbase Performance) both posted two top six times, with Jelley starting fourth for round six.
Tom Bradshaw (JHR) and Euan Hankey (Team Parker Racing) were in the top 10 for both races, although Hankey's session was interrupted by a trip through the gravel at Clark Curve early in qualifying.
Once again, pro-am2 was superbly competitive with less than a quarter of a second covering the top three for round five. Parish claimed the first pole from Hazell and George Richardson (Motorbase Performance), while Hazell turned the tables on Parish for the second race with Richardson again third to maintain the strong form he showed at Rockingham.
"That's two and a half seconds faster than the last time here," said Parish after an impressive run. "I had a big spin at Paddock but kept the car out of the gravel," he added. Hazell, meanwhile, was right in contention to add to his three pro-am2 wins to date this season. "My team mate Tom Bradshaw gave me a pull round; the car is really good," said Hazell.