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British GT Championship
Oulton Park - Qualifying - 28/5/16

By MJP Media | 29 May 2016

Jon Minshaw lands a maiden British GT pole position at Oulton Park ahead of GT3 Am team-mate Liam Griffin.

Jon Minshaw's Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3

Jon Minshaw secured a first British GT pole position for the Lamborghini Huracan after Barwell Motorsport dominated the GT3 Am qualifying session at Oulton Park before Seb Morris notched up his second pole of the season for Team Parker Racing.

Minshaw was at the sharp end throughout his session after setting the second fastest time on his first run before immediately improving to jump to the top. His 1:35.579 lap would remain the benchmark throughout the session as others repeatedly tried and failed to better his time. Team-mate Liam Griffin came closest but ultimately had to settle for second with a lap just 0.039s shy of pole but crucially he, unlike Minshaw, has no pit-stop success penalty to serve during Monday's first hour-long race.

Liam Griffin's Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3

Rick Parfitt Jnr was only a tenth of a second further back after a last gasp effort leapfrogged his Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental GT3 ahead of Derek Johnston's championship-leading TF Sport Aston Martin V12 Vantage, which had led the early exchanges. Alasdair McCaig was another to improve second time around aboard the Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650S GT3 on his way to fifth. Reigning champion Andrew Howard was next up in the Beechdean AMR Aston Martin, while Will Moore saved his best until last to move the Optimum Motorsport Audi R8 LMS up to seventh. Mark Farmer completed the top-eight for TF Sport in the Aston Martin Vantage.

The GT3 Pro session also featured a late change when Seb Morris improved to secure his second pole of the season for Team Parker Racing. So competitive was the class that only 0.7s covered a top-eight comprising four different manufacturers. Rob Bell's Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren led after the first round of flying laps but couldn't improve thereafter. That left the door ajar for Morris who had been second but grabbed pole by just 0.031s on his second run. A late effort from Phil Keen helped the Am pole-winning Lamborghini secure third on the grid for Monday's second race after narrowly beating Ross Gunn's Beechdean AMR Aston Martin by just 0.014s.

Seb Morris' Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental GT3

Jonny Adam, who immediately dashed to the airport for his Nürburgring 24 Hours transfer, was less than half a tenth further back in the TF Sport V12 Vantage. Liam Griffin's co-driver Adam Carroll had been right behind Morris after the opening skirmish before having his fastest lap removed for not respecting track limits. He starts the second race from sixth ahead of PFL Motorsport's Jody Fannin and Jon Barnes in the second TF Sport Aston Martin. Mike Simpson's Tolman Motorsport Ginetta is ninth ahead of Joe Osborne in the AmDTuning.com BMW Z4.

The British GT Championship continues at Oulton Park on Monday with two 1 hour races plus a full supporting programme including the BRDC British F3 Championship, Volkswagen Racing Cup and lots more. Meanwhile, don't forget our free competition to win tickets to the British Touring Car Championship meeting at Oulton Park next weekend on June 4th and 5th - see here for details.

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