Photo: Ida Wood
KMR Sport’s KC Ensor-Smith grabbed pole for the fourth Walter Hayes Trophy heat in the final qualifying session of Saturday morning.
He posted a 1m05.156s early on to put himself on top, and led Sema Racing’s Alex Ames initially.
His next lap was a 1m04.333s, which kept him ahead of Ames by 0.103 seconds, and four minutes in he improved again to 1m03.832s as team-mate Michael Eastwell jumped up to second with a 1m03.972s.
Ames set another personal best to sit 0.352s behind in third, and Wayne Poole Racing’s Alex Walker was fourth before Team Dolan’s Jordan Kelly knocked him back one spot.
Ensor-Smith made it harder to be beaten when he set a 1m03.468s next time by, as Ammonite Motorsport’s Ayrton Houk moved up to fourth place and within a second of the provisional poleman.
The pace advantage held by Ensor-Smith was reduced to 0.243s by Walker with five-and-a-half minutes to go of the 12-minute session, with Ames also breaking into the 1m03s.
Kelly was able to get back into third, and with four minutes to go he and Walker fell further behind Ensor-Smith as he set another new benchmark: a 1m03.104s.
Walker responded quickly, getting within 0.26s of Ensor-Smith’s pace, as Houk and Eastwell got ahead of Kelly. Oldfield Motorsport’s Connor Willis did too with two-and-a-half minutes to go, after traffic had ruined the laps of the drivers above and below him on the timesheet, and with 95s left Ames improved to 1m03.582s to move back up to third.
Ensor-Smith was one of the first to meet the chequered flag and improved yet again to 1m02.976s, a laptime that would not be challenged.
Eastwell did get faster, briefly going up to third before Kelly set a 1m03.296s to steal a front row spot alongside Ensor-Smith.
Willis was just 0.021s slower than him in third, with Walker demoted to fourth ahead of Eastwell, Ames and Houk.
However the results were adjusted afterwards as laptimes were deleted due to track limits violations. Willis’s best lap was deleted and he dropped to sixth, and similarly Eastwell’s fastest lap was deleted and he got moved down to eighth.
During the session, Simms Engineering’s Benn Simms parked up next to a barrier and Jeremy Caine also struck trouble.
Heat 4 qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KC Ensor-Smith | KMR Sport | 1m02.976s |
| 2 | Jordan Kelly | Team Dolan | +0.320s |
| 3 | Alex Walker | Wayne Poole Racing | +0.388s |
| 4 | Alex Ames | Sema Racing | +0.606s |
| 5 | Ayrton Houk | Ammonite Motorsport | +0.744s |
| 6 | Connor Willis | Oldfield Motorsport | +0.770s |
| 7 | Doug Crosbie | +0.806s | |
| 8 | Michael Eastwell | KMR Sport | +0.829s |
| 9 | Drew Cameron | B-M Racing | +0.900s |
| 10 | Jaap Blijleven | +1.602s | |
| 11 | Andrew Schofield | KMR Sport | +1.636s |
| 12 | Ricky Simpson | TM Racing | +1.648s |
| 13 | Mattia Tremolada | Team Dolan | +1.938s |
| 14 | Benn Simms | Simms Engineering | +1.951s |
| 15 | Arnaud Dousse | Dousse Int. Sanglier | +1.995s |
| 16 | Mark McKenna | Team Dolan | +2.049s |
| 17 | Gary Newsome | Team Dolan | +2.105s |
| 18 | Stephen O’Connor | Team Dolan | +2.194s |
| 19 | James Clarke | Enigma Motorsport | +2.483s |
| 20 | Bob Hawkins | TM Racing | +2.572s |
| 21 | Chris Porritt | Neil Fowler Motorsport | +2.737s |
| 22 | Jack Van der Ende | GT Motorsport | +2.875s |
| 23 | Grace Parkington | B-M Racing | +3.694s |
| 24 | Henry Campbell | +4.110s | |
| 25 | Dominic Mooney | Midland Classic Restorations | +4.226s |
| 26 | Jeremy Caine | Neil Fowler Motorsport | +6.627s |