The reigning champions of 2013 made their mark in qualifying for the third round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship, the Silverstone 500, with combined results from the two qualifying sessions meaning poles for 2013 GT3 champion Andrew Howard and team-mate Jonny Adam’s #1 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage in GT3 and GT4 champion Rick Parfitt Jr and team-mate Tom Oliphant taking GT4 pole in the #42 Century Motorsport Ginetta G55.

Howard and Adam were over a second ahead of their nearest rivals with their pole ‘lap’ determined by the team-mates’ fastest times in their individual qualifying sessions being combined. Their time over the two laps of 4mins 05.155secs was over a second ahead of the championship leading #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3 duo of Alexander Sims and Marco Attard. The class top three was rounded off by the #6 PGF – Kinfaun AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Phil Dryburgh and John Gaw.

GT4 pole was a combined lap time of 4mins 29.424secs from Pariftt and Oliphant, with the class leading #407 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin GT4 Challenge of Ross Wylie and Jake Giddings second fastest, just over 1.3secs adrift. The #55 Academy Motorsport G55 Ginetta GT4 of Matt Nicoll-Jones and Oli Basey-Fisher rounded off the class top three.

It was a bad day at the office for the #2 Generation Bentley Racing car and #77 ISSY Racing / Oz Yusuf car. The #2 Bentley Continental pf Steve Tandy and James Appleby caught fire in the second practice session whilst the #77 Lotus Evora of Oz Yusuf and Gavan Kershaw didn’t turn a lap all day.

Race day opens with warm-up at 10:10 – 10:20 then the race itself at 14:15 – 17:15. The race is televised delayed live on Motors TV – which is now available subscription free in the UK on channel 240. Highlights of the event will be televised on Channel 4 and BT Sport as well as on Motors TV.

Quotes

Andrew Howard – #1 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3:
“We’re thrilled. When you’re running in this sort of Championship and you’re just trying to score points, it is nice to stretch your legs and do what we do, which today is coming first! I’m happy with my lap times, I struggled last week in Blancpain here, so it is good to come back this week after looking through data. The team set me challenges in free practice and they all came off which is fantastic.”

Marco Attard – #79 Ecurie Ecosse BMW Z4 GT3:
“We’re happy, but obviously it would have been better to be on pole. Andrew Howard did a stunning lap to deny us without a doubt, their car is very good. Our consistency has been good, there’s a lot of great competition out there, all across the grid. They’re very quick and we can’t forget that and you have to constantly watch them.”

Phil Dryburgh – #6 PGF – Kinfaun AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3:
“We’re very pleased as we’re essentially two amateur drivers. Car is great and so are the tyres. Myself and John Gaw set some good laps too. John did incredible, fourth amongst world class drivers is incredible. He wears a suit during the week! We’re never in the car outside of race weekends, so it is an incredible job. He topped FP1 here last year so we know he goes well at Silverstone, and so does the car.”

Tom Oliphant – #42 Century Motorsport G55 Ginetta GT4:
“We’re over the moon with pole position. Every session today has been really successful, we keep changing the car and it keeps getting better. Both myself and Rick put in two great laps and we’re happy with the result. Between me and Rick, the team and pace is there and we stand a really good chance.”

Jake Giddings – #407 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin GT4 Challenge:
“P2 isn’t a bad start, and it’s good place to work from in the race. The Aston likes the big wide open tracks like Silverstone. We should do pretty well, but we have some catching up to do with Barrie Baxter and Dan Cammish’s Porsche, that’ll be the main challenge as he’s obviously very quick in a straight line. I’m quite happy with my lap times, there’s some more time to be found, but then again I’ve never driven around the Grand Prix circuit. I have some learning to do, but I’m pretty happy with qualifying.”

Oli Basey-Fisher – #55 Academy Motorsport G55 Ginetta GT4:
“We’re very happy with today. We didn’t think the GT4 Ginetta would be that competitive here, especially in a straight line. To qualify P3 was a real success, and it seems the Ginettas have done well here which is surprising. I thought the Astons and the Porsches would be up there. Since Oulton we have turned the corner, it wasn’t the best of races for us, but Rockingham was fantastic and we’ve come here to see what we can do and we’re aiming for a top five finish.”

Resources

Qualifying times: bit.ly/1kX0RN0
Grid: bit.ly/1kihwL5
Entry List and Results: bit.ly/1kv1Hko
Live timing: bit.ly/1nO4FkL
Facebook Gallery: on.fb.me/1ksCm5K
Press Images: www.britishgt.com/gallery.php
Twitter: www.twitter.com/BritishGT

Results: 2014 Round 3 – Silverstone
Aggregate Qualifying
Pos    Car    Class    Team    Car    Time    Laps    Gap    Avg
speed
1    1    GT3    Beechdean AMR:    Aston Martin Vantage GT3    04:05.155
2    79    GT3    Ecurie Ecosse:    BMW Z4 GT3    04:06.255
3    6    GT3    PGF – Kinfaun AMR:    Aston Martin Vantage GT3    04:06.906
4    4    GT3    Oman Racing Team:    Aston Martin Vantage GT3    04:07.289
5    8    GT3    Triple 8:    BMW Z4 GT3    04:07.298
6    12    GT3    Trackspeed:    Porsche 997 GT3 R    04:07.943
7    38    GT3    MP Motorsport AMR:    Aston Martin Vantage GT3    04:08.243
8    23    GT3    United Autosports:    Audi R8 LMS Ultra    04:08.259
9    5    GT3    Oman Racing Team:    Aston Martin Vantage GT3    04:08.385
10    21    GT3    Strata 21:    Aston Martin Vantage GT3    04:08.411
11    80    GT3    Nissan GT Academy Team RJN:    Nissan GT-R GT3    04:08.431
12    17    GT3    M-Sport:    Bentley Continental GT3    04:08.652
13    33    GT3    Trackspeed:    Porsche 997 GT3 R    04:08.713
14    18    GT3    FF Corse:    Ferrari 458 Italia    04:08.867
15    29    GT3    AF Corse:    Ferrari 458 Italia    04:09.259
16    888    GT3    Triple 8:    BMW Z4 GT3    04:09.363
17    13    GT3    AF Corse:    Ferrari 458 Italia    04:10.416
18    30    GT3    AF Corse:    Ferrari 458 Italia    04:10.587
19    28    GT3    HorsePower Racing:    Aston Martin Vantage GT3    04:11.738
20    40    GT3    CWS 4 x 4 Spares:    G55 Ginetta GT3    04:12.064
21    24    GT3    United Autosports:    McLaren MP412C    04:13.015
22    22    GT3    Preci -Spark:    McLaren MP4 12C    04:14.845
23    26    GT3    MB Racing:    Aston Martin Vantage GT3    04:20.744
24    42    GT4    Century Motorsport:    G55 Ginetta GT4    04:29.424
25    407    GT4    Beechdean AMR:    Aston Martin GT4 Challenge    04:30.785
26    55    GT4    Academy Motorsport:    G55 Ginetta GT4    04:30.839
27    46    GT4    Twisted Team Parker:    G55 Ginetta GT4    04:31.679
28    48    GT4    Fox Motorsport / Paul McNeilly:    G55 Ginetta GT4    04:31.907
29    44    GT4    Team Parker Racing:    Porsche 911 GT4    04:32.718
30    41    GT4    Optimum:    G55 Ginetta GT4    04:33.266
31    43    GT4    Century Motorsport:    G55 Ginetta GT4    04:33.707
32    77    GT4    ISSY Racing / Oz Yuzuf:    Lotus Evora GT4    04:34.190
33    49    GT4    TF Sport:    Aston Martin GT4 Challenge    04:34.862
34    69    GT4    APO:    Porsche 911 GT4    04:35.850
35    50    GT4    Track Group:    Aston Martin GT4 Challenge    04:36.672
36    45    GT4    RLR / Declan Jones:    BMW M3 GT4    04:39.264
Not Classified
–    2    GT3    Generation Bentley Racing:    Bentley Continental GT3
–    86    INV    GPRM:    Toyota G86
Session Notes
Weather    Cloudy
Track conditions    Dry