Luke Cooper grabs heat two pole at Walter Hayes Trophy

Photo: Ida Wood

Swift Cooper’s Luke Cooper prevailed in a four-way battle to top heat two qualifying for the Walter Hayes Trophy on Silverstone’s National layout.

Cooper ended up 0.476 seconds quicker than Mann Motorsport’s Charlie Mann, with TM’ Racing’s Felix Fisher a close third and reigning Walter Hayes winner Chris Middlehurst fourth.

Team Dolan’s Middlehurst posted an opening benchmark of 1m07.404s before improving to a 1m05.720s. Fisher then moved ahead with a 1m04.888s and he extended his advantage to almost 0.4 seconds on his next effort.

Middlehurst moved back ahead by half a second but he was swiftly beaten by both Mann and Cooper, while Fisher also improved but remained fourth.

Mann edged Middlehurst again with a 1m02.938s as the pace lowered further, and the pair when then split by Cooper. Fisher reclaimed top spot with a 1m02.717s, only for Cooper to edge his Castle Combe Racing Club FF1600 rival by 0.3s, as Mann and Middlehurst were unable to respond.

Fisher was then relegated to third with a few minutes remaining, as Cooper set his pole-winning 1m01.999s and Mann improved to second, while Middlehurst remained 0.8s behind in fourth.

PWR1 Racing’s Jason Pribyl was just over one second off the pace in fifth and just 0.084s ahead of Callum Grant’s 1991 Van Diemen. B-M Racing’s Drew Cameron was seventh ahead of Sema Racing Alex Ames, Beastworx’s Adam Higgins and Richard Tarling.

Sportscar ace and former Formula 1 driver Jan Magnussen qualified 15th in a GT Motorsport-run Van Diemen RF78, decked in the same Duckhams Oil livery he raced with in FFord back in the 1990s.

Heat 2 qualifying results