British GT – Thruxton – Qualifying Report
Jordan & Cunningham Entertain – Veloqx & Morgan Poles

This was great fun. Half an hour’s excellent entertainment – but not good news for all. With 18 cars looking likely to line up on the grid for Sunday’s race, suddenly within moments of the start of the session we were down to 17. Alan Bonner had the engine blow on the #53 (four speed) Xero Corvette, and he left oil from two-thirds of the way up Woodham Hill, through the Chicane and into the pit lane.

The session was red flagged before anyone had set a time, the marshals doing a great job to clear up the mess.

Fifteen minutes later, we were off again, the first cars causing the cement dust to fly – and then Stewart Turvey (replacing Jeff Wyatt in the ISL Marcos) had his engine misbehave a little earlier round the lap. The V8 threw its oil pump belt flat in fifth. It looks like we’ll be down to 16 for the race.

Mike Jordan was the first to entertain us, and he stuck at it throughout most of the session. While the Moslers and the Veloqx Ferrari waited for the track to become cleaner, Jordan attacked the kerbs and cement at the Chicane and set an excellent 1:14.320. He was very pleased with that "banker lap on the cement". Steve Hyde and Piers Johnson (“Bit disappointed, I couldn’t put a perfect lap together”) set their good times fairly early on too - and then Shaun Balfe appeared, pipping Mike Jordan by just over a couple of tenths.

Jordan: “I knew the 360 was always going to be out of reach, but I thought the front row was going to be possible. I didn’t really get a clear lap and on my quickest lap the car ran out of fuel at Goodwood. We've made huge progress with this car during the weekend so far. It’s getting really quick.”

Jordan had understeer yesterday, oversteer this morning - but intuition led him to a pretty good set-up this afternoon.

The Veloqx Ferrari finally appeared with 13 minutes left, Tim Mullen setting a 1:19 and then – a 1:13.090. Simple as that. His advantage over the rest was just over seven tenths, and the Irishman would probably have gone quicker had he needed to. His second flying lap was actually a 13.341.

Balfe and Jordan hadn’t finished though, both improving – but in different styles. The Balfe Mosler looked flat and smooth through the Chicane, while Jordan attacked and attacked. When he didn’t like a lap, he backed off and then had another go. His best was eventually a 1:14.126, versus Balfe’s 1:13.824.

Martin Short was despondent while waiting for the track to be cleaned, but things finally got better for him - fifth in 1:14.903. “It was our fourth set-up of the weekend and it worked. I took some brave tablets in the way I was taking Church. It feels significantly better than it did this morning.” Then we had the Piers Johnson Eclipse and Steve Hyde CDL TVRs, Graeme Mundy a second and a half slower in the Peninsula TVR, then Peter Le Bas, Dan Eagling (another excellent effort) and Steven Brady completing the top ten and the GTO runners. Brady's Ultima was in gearbox trouble, and will go 'home' tonight for a really effective repair, ready for tomorrow.

Phil Hindley: “With the weight at the back, the bumps just don’t suit our Porsches.” The GruppeM Tech 9 911s were in second and fifth places….so we had Neil Cunningham ready to line up in the first Morgan pole position of the year. First Morgan pole ever? Not running yesterday didn’t seem to matter. Towing round the #46 car this morning didn’t seem to matter. Cunningham looked particularly mighty under braking for the Chicane, his 1:18.888 nearly nine tenths quicker than Matt Griffin’s best. “It was relatively easy,” reckoned Cunningham. “I did a 19.4 and then a 19.1 before the 18.8. This car has the potential to be a major threat in GT racing. It just needs a little bit of development.”

Peter Snowdon beat his target of 1:20.5 with a 1:20.069 in the RML Elise, so third on the Cup grid for this car, its best performance of the year – and on supposedly a power circuit too. Paul Whight was delighted, stiffer rear dampers making the difference between projected and actual times, he thought – as well as Peter Snowdon.

Keith Ahlers was fourth in the second Morgan, and Tom Shrimpton fifth in the #77 Tech 9 Porsche. “The car is brilliant, but it was very slippery out there,” said the young man. He was being a little cautious in the tricky conditions.

The ISL Marcos was sixth (but not starting the race) and the #43 Elise of Scuderia Grifo Corse was 17th fastest, 16th on the grid.