Double British GT Pole for Kinch and Kirkaldy
at Knockhill
20 May 2005
The no 35 Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 360 Modena of Nathan Kinch and Andrew
Kirkaldy snapped up pole position for both British GT races at Knockhill,
their home race of the year. The first qualifying session saw a great
battle going on in both GT2 and GT3 categories, with both classes having
three different
manufacturers
in the top three.
Nathan Kinch set a time of 51.680 in the first qualifying
in his Ferrari 360 Modena. "I am really happy with the result," Kinch
said afterwards. "The car feels great, and it's good for the team
to know our car is so quick despite the 60kg ballast we carry." He
was closely followed by the Porsche of Mike Jordan and Michael Caine,
who finished in second place with a lap time of 51.844. Starting the
session late was Patrick Pearce from LNT due to an engine change after
the morning session. However, it seemed the team didn't lose out as
Pearce did a magnificent job putting the TVR T400R in third position
for the first British GT race at Knockhill, which will take place later
on Saturday afternoon.
Andrew Kirkaldy took over the no 35 Ferrari in the second
qualifying, going even faster than Kinch in the first, by setting a
time of 50.436.
This time saw him 0.611 seconds ahead of sister car no 34 of Tim Mullen
and Chris Niarchos, who finished in second place. Warren Hughes equalled
the third place performance of Patrick Pearce to put the LNT TVR on
third, with a time of 51.207. "It was a fantastic effort by the
whole team," Hughes praised after the session. "We are pleased
with third place in both sets of qualifying, but we are slightly disappointed,
because we would have liked to battle for pole position."
The no
42 LNT TVR T400R of Jonny Kane and Andrew Thompson was unable to make
both qualifying sessions due to engine problems, but unlike
their other team car, the mechanics couldn't fix the problem in time. "We
had similar engine problems to the no 43 TVR," Kane said after
the disappointment. "We don't have enough parts to fix it today,
so we can't start the race this afternoon. We looked really good so
far, but I don't think we would have been able to match the times of
the Ferraris. Let's see what happens tomorrow in race two."
In the GT3 class, the no 81 Marcos Mantis of Chris Beighton and Jon
Finnemore (Team Tiger) finished first in session one with a time of
53.286. The team was extremely pleased after having a number of problems
in the testing session on Friday.
Tech 9's Dimitris Deverikos put the no 9 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in second
position, with a lap time of 53.646
"I'm pleased because this is my first time here and it is quite
a tricky circuit," Deverikos was quoted as saying afterwards. "I had
some problems with the jump at the chicane and I lost some time but
second is a good position to start the race. I think we have a good
chance to win. However the weather here is very strange so we will
have to see!" Deverikos was closely followed by the Team Aero
Morgan no 11 of Oliver Bryant and Keith Ahlers, lapping in a 53.957.
Piers Masarati (Tech 9) improved Deverikos' time of qualifying one
and secured pole position in the GT3 class in the second qualifying
session, setting a time of 53.256. He beat off the challenges of
Jon Finnemore (Team Tiger) in the Marcos Mantis, who finished in
second
with a time of 53.369. The no 30 Team Parker Porsche of Julian
Westwood and Martin Rich did a great job putting the car on third
position
with 53.585.
SRO
See 2005 series calendar for British GT Championship
Related Story 08.05.2005 - Britnell
and Stockton Win Wet British GT Race at Croft
