Photo: Ida Wood
The Walter Hayes Trophy kicked off at a foggy Silverstone on Saturday morning with Jordan Dempsey taking pole for heat one.
On the short National layout there were 26 cars packed on track, with visiblity and track conditions posing a challenge due to a receding layer of fog.
B-M Racing driver Dempsey was fastest from the off, leading Ammonite Motorsport’s Hugh Esterson with his first lap.
Alex Ames, in a 36-year-old Van Diemen RF90, was fastest next time by with a 1m03.384s, pipping Wayne Poole Racing’s Josh Fisher by 0.004s as Dempsey failed to improve and dropped to eighth.
Dempsey’s third flying lap lifted him three places, as Fisher lowered the pace to 1m03.115s to lead Esterson by 0.006s, then on his fourth he made a big improvement to 1m02.425s. That put him 0.261s clear of Esterson, with KMR Sport’s Mikel Bezuidenhout 0.322s off the top in third.
The first sub-1m02s lap of the day came from Dempsey next time by, posting a 1m01.941s to now lead the field by 0.476s. Fisher reclaimed third, 0.604s back, and Bezuidenhout was the only other driver within a second of the pace at this point.
Dempsey improved once more on his sixth lap, to 1m01.723s, and with four minutes to go Fisher became his closest rival but was 0.675s slower than him.
Soon another name entered the fray towards the top of the timesheet, as Team Dolan’s Adam Quartermaine set a 1m02.286s to jump to second. Although he improved again with two-and-a-half minutes left of qualifying, Dempsey went even faster and extended his advantage to 0.451s with a 1m01.693s lap.
There was one more improvement for Dempsey, to 1m01.560s, and Quartermaine was shuffled back down to fourth. Esterson bettered him with 46s remaining of the session, then just before the chequered flag waved Fisher posted a 1m02.075s to snatch third.
Ames topped the classification for older cars in sixth, within a second of pole and 0.885s ahead of rival Gaius Ghinn in seventh.
Heat 1 qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordan Dempsey | B-M Racing | 1m01.560s |
| 2 | Hugh Esterson | Ammonite Motorsport | +0.452s |
| 3 | Josh Fisher | Wayne Poole Racing | +0.515s |
| 4 | George Quartermaine | Team Dolan | +0.584s |
| 5 | Mikel Bezuidenhout | KMR Sport | +0.846s |
| 6 | Alex Ames | Sema Racing | +0.945s |
| 7 | Gaius Ghinn | +1.830s | |
| 8 | Benn Simms | Simms Engineering | +1.875s |
| 9 | John Svensson | John’s Racing Team | +2.027s |
| 10 | Leanne McShane | Pirate M-Sports | +2.277s |
| 11 | Paul Mason | Swift Cooper | +2.360s |
| 12 | Axel Castillou | CC Racing | +2.396s |
| 13 | Andrew Schofield | KMR Sport | +2.603s |
| 14 | Chris Porritt | Neil Fowler Motorsport | +2.792s |
| 15 | Jack Wilkinson | +2.850s | |
| 16 | Christopher Stones | +2.904s | |
| 17 | Gerhard Hauschulte | Auto Haeckel Motorsport | +3.020s |
| 18 | Matthew Wrigley | +3.116s | |
| 19 | Neil McArthur | B-M Racing | +3.488s |
| 20 | Michel Ghio | HTT Motorsport | +3.609s |
| 21 | Joseph Ahrens | +3.683s | |
| 22 | Stuart Adam | +3.693s | |
| 23 | Tim Murray | +3.743s | |
| 24 | Joshua Law | Classic & Race | +4.130s |
| 25 | Simphiwe Mohlahlo | KMR Sport | +4.874s |
| 26 | Kevin Teager | +8.214s |