Cottingham and Williamson take Pole at Brands whilst Steller dominate GT4 qualifying

Ian Loggie is going into this weekend’s race as a firm favourite for the Drivers’ Championship title; however, James Cottingham and Lewis Williamson made their intentions known, taking pole position in qualifying for what is the penultimate round of the 2022 season. Steller Motorsport’s Audi of Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding secured the top position in GT4.  

2 Seas Motorsport’s Cottingham and Williamson set the first and second fastest times in their individual sessions, combining to take pole position by 0.396s ahead of the Enduro Motorsport McLaren of Morgan Tillbrook and Marcus Clutton. The Redline Racing Lamborghini rounded out the top three and took pole in Silver Am.

In GT4, Steller Motorsport line up on the front row alongside the R Racing Aston Martin of Jamie Day and Josh Miller whilst the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK GR Supra of Tom Edgar and Jordan Collard starts third. Matt Topham and Darren Turner secured the Pro Am pole position for Newbridge Motorsport, however, their combined time was only good enough for seventh.

GT3

It was an incredibly strong performance from 2 Seas Motorsport, Cottingham and Williamson securing pole position from Enduro Motorsport. Championship leader Ian Loggie combined with Callum Macleod to secure fifth overall. Cottingham set the early pace and remained unbeaten until the end of the first qualifying session. Clutton lowered the gap to 0.091s by the end of the session. Adam Balon and Ian Loggie exchanged positions early in the first session before Andrey Borodin crashed the #24 Greystone GT McLaren on the Cooper Straight, bringing the session to a premature close.

2 Seas Motorsport, Mercedes AMG, GT3, Pro/Am, #4, James Cottingham, Lewis Williamson, Brands Hatch Kent United Kingdom © Craig Robertson

2 Seas held the early advantage moving into Qualifying 2, but were unable to top the session, James Dorlin set the quickest time of 1:22.969, going 0.013s faster than Williamson and within less than a tenth of the GT3 lap record. Dorlin’s performance was enough to move the Redline Lamborghini ahead of Barwell Motorsport and Ram Racing on combined times. Marcus Clutton finished fourth after having his final run impeded but was still quick enough to secure second on combined times.

“It’s a positive result in qualifying today. A front row start, we couldn’t ask for much more than that. We didn’t have the pace to match Cottingham and Williamson, but I had more to give and was blocked out on track on a fast run. It’s a new day tomorrow and starting on the front row, we’re targeting nothing less than a podium” – Marcus Clutton, Enduro Motorsport

Red Line Racing secured third overall and will line up alongside the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini whilst Ram Racing close out the top five.

James Dorlin was excited with the qualifying result and really looking forward to the race: “We’re really happy to end qualifying in P1 in the Pro session and P3 overall on combined times. It’s nice to be able to show the kind of pace we’ve been building up to with the Redline Lamborghini Huracan. I’m looking forward to seeing what the race brings tomorrow. Our full focus is on trying to convert this strong qualifying performance into a race win.” – James Dorlin, Red Line Racing

GT4

Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding took another pole position with a strong performance throughout. Williams crossed the line fourth in the first session, 0.4s off the lead pace set by Jamie Day in the R Racing Aston Martin (1:31.441). Fielding took the task in his stride, beating the R Racing Aston by 0.522s, providing a 0.114s gap by the end of qualifying 2. Six manufacturers made up the top six in GT4, highlighting the competitiveness of the class, the top eight were split by less than a second.

Steller Motorsport, Audi R8 LMS, GT4, Pro/Am, #42, Richard Williams, Sennan Fielding, Brands Hatch Kent United Kingdom © Craig Robertson

Jamie Orton led the way initially in the Team Parker Racing Porsche before Moh Ritson took his turn at the top in the Paddock Motorsport McLaren. Tom Edgar in the Toyota Racing UK GR Supra and Jamie Day in the R Racing Aston Martin each took turns leading the race for pole position before the end of the session. Jamie Day set several fastest times and just managed to hold off the charging Freddie Tomlinson, the Assetto Motorsport Ginetta driver secured his best qualifying position to date, running just 0.109s behind the R Racing Aston. By the end of the first session, the top 10 were split by less than a second, so it was anyone’s game going into the second session.

Sennan Fielding immediately set the pace in the Steller Motorsport Audi, aiming surpass the four tenth deficit passed over by Williams. His first lap put him out front early before Jordan Collard took provisional pole in the GR Supra. Josh Miller took provisional pole midway through the second session for R Racing before the session was red flagged as Chris Salkeld came off at Stirling’s, dropping pieces of BMW all over the track.

With the track clear, and five minutes to run, Fielding was on the charge, and with a clear track he managed to pull half a second on Jamie Day, relegating the R Racing Aston Martin into second place overall. The Collard and Edgar Toyota will start the race in third place, ahead of Team Parker Porsche 718 Cayman whilst Matt Cowley and Marco Signoretti will start fifth overall.

When the clean-up was complete and the session resumed, there were barely five minutes left to run once the frontrunners got up to speed, and Fielding pushed like mad to try and find the few fractions of a second that would make the difference. With a clear track ahead, he managed to extend his advantage over Day to just over half a second, which decisively put the Audi on top overall.