+ Second pole in as many races for Tse and Götz
+ Miller and Mitchell dominate GT4
+ Wood sets overall pace for Beechdean
+ Result: Brands Hatch Qualifying
2 Seas’ Kevin Tse and Maximilian Götz picked up where they left off last time out by scoring their second pole in as many British GT races.
Mahiki, meanwhile, also maintained its GT4 qualifying dominance thanks to Josh Miller and Jack Mitchell who finished 1.4s clear of their nearest challengers at Brands Hatch.
2 Seas’ #18 Mercedes-AMG shares the overall front row with fellow GT3 title contenders Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam (Blackthorn) who beat Barwell’s Alex Martin and Patrick Kujala to second.
But GT3’s star performer was undoubtedly Tom Wood who outpaced some of the world’s best factory drivers to top Q2. His 1m22.687s was a tenth faster than Sven Müller, Götz and long-time AMR driver, Adam. It also elevated Beechdean’s Aston Martin to seventh overall and Silver-Am pole.
Optimum’s Luca Hopkinson and Harry George qualified second in GT4, while overall title rivals Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson (Century) and Marc Warren and Jack Brown (Optimum) share row two.
GT3: Wood stars, but Tse and Götz take pole again
Tse’s late effort saw 2 Seas pace Q1, which Götz then converted into P1 for the start of Sunday’s two-hour race.
Blackthorn’s Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam line up alongside after qualifying a combined 0.216s behind but will be well aware of the maximum Compensation Time 2 Seas’ leading contender must serve during its pitstop. The #7 Aston Martin, meanwhile, competes penalty-free.
Both title contenders stole a march on championship leaders Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss who start sixth after the latter’s scrappy initial effort compromised the duo’s time. Dawson had earlier looked set to top Q1 before Tse lapped a tenth quicker.
Instead, Alex Martin and Patrick Kujala combined to claim third overall and head up an all Barwell second row. Rob Collard and Hugo Cook’s Lamborghini starts alongside.
Optimum’s Morgan Tillbrook and Marvin Kirchhöfer finished as the fastest McLaren runners in fifth. 2 Seas' second Mercedes-AMG, Beechdean's Aston Martin and Orange/JMH's McLaren completed the top eight ahead of Paddock and Team Parker.
GT4: Mahiki maintains qualifying edge
Fastest GT4 times in Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying made Mahiki’s #84 Ginetta the obvious candidate for pole. And both Miller and Mitchell obliged by topping their respective sessions.
Miller required just two flying laps to establish an initial 0.7s advantage over Optimum’s Luca Hopkinson, while Mahiki’s new recruit Luke Garlick finished three tenths further back.
Behind, the two leading overall title and Pro-Am contenders slugged it out for Q1 honours. Ravi Ramyead ultimately prevailed over championship leader Marc Warren, albeit by just 0.022s.
Q2 began with an immediate red flag when a puncture sent Blake Angliss into the Stirling’s gravel trap, condemning the Ginetta he shares with Garlick to the back of the grid.
The session resumed with Mitchell matching his co-driver’s time before lowering GT4’s best individual lap to 1m30.200s. He was 0.3s clear of Charlie Robertson who didn’t quite do enough to move Century’s BMW on to the front row.
Instead, Harry George did enough to maintain his Optimum co-driver’s second place in the combined times by just 0.069s.
#69s demise helped Optimum’s other McLaren to share row two with their championship rivals. A 23.5-point advantage plus Ramyead and Robertson’s maximum Compensation Time leaves Warren and Jack Brown with a reasonable chance of wrapping up the GT4 drivers’ title with a race to spare.
Century’s Silver championship-leading BMW of Chris Salkeld and Branden Templeton starts fifth, one place ahead of Ian Duggan and Joe Wheeler (Mahiki).
This year’s penultimate British GT race begins at 13:00 BST on Sunday. Watch it live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.