McKane Breaks Carson Deadlock, Scores Silverstone Pole

Nathan McKane breaks the Carson Speedworks deadlock during Qualifying and will start tomorrow’s RAC Tourist Trophy on pole position.

The former Formula 1 driver took advantage of the pair of Carson Speedworks drivers both having their own troubles within the twenty minute session and put in a lap one second quicker than either of the factory Chevrolet drivers. Li Qi struggled in the middle sector on his quickest lap which resulted in his quickest lap being a full second behind the time set by McKane. After the session the Chinese driver stating that his Corvette was capable of a lap a half of a second clear of what McKane had done during the session. Qi will start the race from third position. Joey Alliot on the other hand, had to deal with slower cars on both of his runs, which results in him starting in tenth position for tomorrow’s race, 1.6 seconds off of the ultimate pace.

One of the real surprises from the session comes from the driver that will be starting alongside McKane on the first row of the grid. James Douglas put in his best qualifying performance in GT Super Series competition, doing one better than his performance at last year’s Round of Malaysia; which saw a Saleen 1-2-3 with Douglas qualifying third behind Antonio Reyna-Sanchez and Ai Tsukimura. It’s Douglas third straight qualifying session starting as the lead Independent runner, and will look to cement on the best track position he might get all season when he and Joel Melrose drive their TDR Saleen on Sunday.

The other big surprise also comes from the Independents field with Phil McCracken qualifying second in class and sixth overall. This is McCracken’s first time actively racing in a series in over two years when he took part in the all-comers Toyota Racing Series in South-East Asia and immediately made an impact at the Czechmate team in the first of his part-time appearances. His time beat out those set by former World Champions James James Davies in his return to Ferrari and Rhys Davies putting in his best qualifying performance in the Commonwealth Ford. The pair of Davies will start eighth and ninth respectively.

Joey Alliot was not the only one who faced issues with slower traffic during their quick laps. Winner in Brazil Matteo Rossi put in only the nineteenth quickest time in the session, more than two seconds off of the pace of his factory Aston Martin stablemate. Both GP Racing Listers also find themselves in the latter half of the thirty car field, Paul Travesen putting in the sixteenth quickest time and Fabian Rei only being capable of the twenty-third quickest time in the session.

Qualifying Results – RAC Tourist Trophy