Eastwell returns from the wild to pip Esterson to WHT heat three pole

Photo: Ida Wood

Wildlife photographer and Formula Ford regular Michael Eastwell pipped Hugh Esterson to pole for the third Walter Hayes Trophy heat.

Ammonite Motorsport driver Esterson, whose younger brother Max is a past winner of the WHT and a Formula 3 racer, laid down the first benchmark and led Cameron Jackson and KMR Sport’s Julian Van der Watt.

KMR’s Robert Wolk moved to the top on the second flying laps, setting a 1m06.264s, but then was beaten by a 1m05.975s from team-mate Eastwell as the track rapidly improved in pace following drizzle in earlier sessions.

Eastwell lowered the pace to 1m04.789s on his third lap, then to 1m04.330s on his fourth. Esterson was closest to him both times, with B-M Racing’s Tom McArthur and Souley Motorsport’s Kieran Attwood demoting Jackson to fifth.

Attwood set a 1m03.637s on his next lap, putting him 0.265 seconds off the new benchmark from Eastwell, as Esterson set a 1m03.766s in third and 0.002s split Van der Watt and Jackson in fourth and fifth.

As the track got drier and grippier the laptimes continued to tumble, but drivers backing out of laps led to traffic in some areas. Eastwell set a 1m03.054s to stay on top, Esterson improved to second on his sixth lap and Van der Watt dropped to fifth as he lost a lot of time in the final sector.

The first sub-1m03s lap was posted by Eastwell, his 1m02.436s putting him 0.62s clear of Esterson. Attwood, Jackson and Van der Watt all set personal bests to stay within a second of pole, and Team Dolan’s Stephen O’Connor was in sixth.

They were now in groups, with Eastwell among other cars while Esterson had jumped ahead of his rivals and found clean air. Eastwell was unable to improve on his eighth lap, and Jackson reduced his advantage to half a second as McArthur jumped back up to third.

Esterson was so far up the road that he was able to set one more lap than his rivals, and on his ninth effort he reclaimed third as PWR1 Racing’s Connor Willis improved to seventh.

The top two could not go any faster when they crossed the line, and it was a similar story next time around. Jackson dropped to fourth as a result, as Esterson and Attwood got between he and Eastwell. Esterson set a 1m02.436s, just 0.019s off the new benchmark, and Attwood was 0.14s slower than the provisional pole pace.

Eastwell had clean air at the end of his final lap and improved to 1m02.021s, which looked to be enough for pole. Jackson set a 1m02.605s in fourth, McArthur sealed fifth place and then there was a long wait for Esterson to complete his extra lap.

He went fastest of anyone in sector two, but could not do enough in the last sector to deny Eastwell and came 0.038s shy of pole.

Van der Watt ended qualifying in sixth, ahead of Sam Street, O’Connor, James Hadfield, Chris Acton, Willis and Rick Morris in his Royale RP29.

Heat 3 qualifying results