Rory Smith snatches heat four pole at WHT

Photo: Ida Wood

B-M Racing’s Rory Smith denied Josh Fisher pole in the final moments of heat four qualifying for the Walter Hayes Trophy on Silverstone’s National layout.

Smith improved as the chequered flag fell to prevail by 0.051 seconds ahead of Wayne Poole Racing’s Fisher, who had led the way in the second half of the 12-minute session.

The pair dominated the top of the timesheet throughout, with Smith heading proceedings to begin with by setting a 1m06.681s and then by posting two much quicker efforts.

Fisher lowered the pace with a 1m02.737s before extending his advantage by 0.2s, but Smith responded with a 1m02.219s to reclaim top spot, and the two-time Formula Ford Festival winner then improved by a further 0.15s.

As the session reached its halfway stage, Fisher moved ahead once more with a 1m01.820s, a time that initially appeared to be good enough to seal pole before Smith set a 1m01.769s on his final effort to top the session.

Team Dolan’s Jason Smyth was another to improve at the chequered flag to move up to third ahead of KMR Sport duo Mikel Bezuidenhout and Jacob Tofts. There were three laptime deletions for Tofts, and Fisher had two but they were all slower efforts so it had no impact on their positions.

Privateer Tom Nippers and Dolan’s Isaac Canto Da Silva were close behind in sixth and seventh, while B-M’s David McArthur was over 0.3s adrift of the pair in eighth.

Souley Motorsport’s Will Liston was just 0.008s shy of McArthur in ninth, with Oldfield Motorsport’s Ben Cox rounding out the top 10.

Heat 4 qualifying results