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Highlands poles for Andrew Tang and Damon Leitch

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
Photo: Toyota Racing Series

Photo: Toyota Racing Series

Neale Motorsport’s Andrew Tang and Victory Motor Racing’s Damon Leitch added their names to the list of feature race polesitters of the 2014 Toyota Racing Series season, taking a pole each at Highlands.

The drivers took a while in getting up to pace during the opening session, which wasn’t helped out by an early red flag brought out by Neil Alberico‘s shunt. Championship leader Martin Rump held on to first for most of the session, but dropped back in the closing minutes of the session.

A number of drivers briefly led the proceedings before Tang put in a decisive lap in the final three minutes, which wasn’t matched for the remainder of the session. Rump moved back up the leaderboards to take second, ahead of teammates Jann Mardenborough and Ryan Tveter, who lined up on row two.

Steijn Schothorst and Egor Orudzhev occupied row three, with Leitch and Levin Amweg lining up in seventh and eighth respectively. James Munro and Robin Hansson rounded out the top ten.

The laptimes in session two were much quicker right off the bat and it was Giles racer Rump who seemed most comfortable with the track, topping the timesheets and subsequently surpassing the 1:30 mark.

A red flag with four minutes to go appeared to have sealed the deal for the Estonian. However, in a last-chance effort, it was Kiwi racer Leitch who managed to steal pole.

With Rump remaining in second, Mardenborough and Tveter were again right behind, with Schothorst taking another fifth.

Amweg settled for sixth, with Tang, Macauley Jones, Gustavo Lima and Munro making up the rest of the top ten.

Qualifying one results
Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Andrew Tang Neale Motorsport 1:30.387 8
2 Martin Rump Giles Motorsport 1:30.608 0.221 9
3 Jann Mardenborough Giles Motorsport 1:30.939 0.552 10
4 Ryan Tveter Giles Motorsport 1:30.967 0.580 9
5 Steijn Schothorst M2 Competition 1:31.016 0.629 8
6 Egor Orudzhev M2 Competition 1:31.098 0.711 9
7 Damon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 1:31.208 0.821 8
8 Levin Amweg M2 Competition 1:31.261 0.874 9
9 James Munro Neale Motorsport 1:31.446 1.059 9
10 Robin Hansson Victory Motor Racing 1:31.545 1.158 10
11 Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 1:32.023 1.636 9
12 Macauley Jones M2 Competition 1:32.041 1.654 9
13 Matevos Isaakyan ETEC Motorsport 1:32.092 1.705 10
14 Denis Korneev ETEC Motorsport 1:32.114 1.727 9
15 Gustavo Lima M2 Competition 1:32.258 1.871 9
16 Michael Scott Victory Motor Racing 1:32.766 2.379 9
17 Martin Kodric ETEC Motorsport 1:32.893 2.506 10
18 Matt Rao Giles Motorsport 1:33.152 2.765 10
19 Alif Hamdan Giles Motorsport 1:33.527 3.140 9
20 Matteo Ferrer Giles Motorsport 1:34.569 4.182 9
21 Jordan Oon ETEC Motorsport 1:35.055 4.668 8
22 Neil Alberico Victory Motor Racing 1:37.051 6.664 3
Qualifying two results
Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Damon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 1:29.626 10
2 Martin Rump Giles Motorsport 1:29.927 0.301 6
3 Jann Mardenborough Giles Motorsport 1:30.115 0.489 6
4 Ryan Tveter Giles Motorsport 1:30.218 0.592 10
5 Steijn Schothorst M2 Competition 1:30.404 0.778 9
6 Levin Amweg M2 Competition 1:30.635 1.009 9
7 Andrew Tang Neale Motorsport 1:30.753 1.127 6
8 Macauley Jones M2 Competition 1:30.764 1.138 10
9 Gustavo Lima M2 Competition 1:30.857 1.231 10
10 James Munro Neale Motorsport 1:30.960 1.334 7
11 Michael Scott Victory Motor Racing 1:31.025 1.399 10
12 Brendon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 1:31.271 1.645 9
13 Denis Korneev ETEC Motorsport 1:31.430 1.804 10
14 Matteo Ferrer Giles Motorsport 1:31.440 1.814 10
15 Robin Hansson Victory Motor Racing 1:31.441 1.815 6
16 Matevos Isaakyan* ETEC Motorsport 1:30.978 1.352 10
17 Martin Kodric ETEC Motorsport 1:31.785 2.159 10
18 Matt Rao Giles Motorsport 1:32.388 2.762 10
19 Alif Hamdan Giles Motorsport 1:32.515 2.889 5
20 Jordan Oon ETEC Motorsport 1:33.978 4.352 7
Egor Orudzhev M2 Competition No Time
Neil Alberico Victory Motor Racing No Time

* Five-place grid penalty