SAM GORNALL SCORES DOUBLE POLE AT CROFT

Sam Gornall made the perfect start to the Croft MINI Festival weekend by topping the times in qualifying for the latest rounds of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy.

Going into the weekend sitting second in the championship standings behind Westbourne Motorsport team-mate Harry Hickton, Gornall was able to emerge on top of the times after a challenging session at the North Yorkshire circuit after overnight rain and morning mist left drivers to deal with a slippery track surface.

Gornall set the early pace in the session before Gabe Fairbrother hit the front for EXCELR8 just before his team-mate Harvey Riby found himself in the gravel at turn one to bring out the red flags.

Once Riby’s car was recovered and the session resumed, lap times started to drop, with Hickton moving into provisional pole with a new qualifying lap record time.

However, Gornall then knocked a further three-tenths of a second from that time to snare pole for race three and secure the additional six bonus points.

Gornall’s second quickest time will also see him lead the field away in race one this afternoon.

“I started the session on a mix of slicks and wets, so the red flag helped me as I could switch to full slicks, which is what the conditions needed,” he said. “The track was dry when we were back out and I got the two laps that I needed. Every point helps at this stage of the season, and the six points there for pole could be the difference between winning and not winning the title…”

Gornall would be run close by Fairbrother, who improved to within 0.040s of pole in his best qualifying performance yet but ultimately had to settle for second spot although his second best time would only be good enough for third for race one.

“We’re in it for the win this weekend as it was so close on the times,’ he said. “That’s my best qualifying performance so far so I’m in a great position and we made the right call to go with slicks in the session in those conditions.”

Alex Solley was third quickest in the session to put three different teams in the top three positions, with points leader Hickton having to settle for the fourth quickest time.

Hickton will however start race one from the front row alongside Gornall thanks to his second fastest lap being only a fraction of a second behind his best time.

On quickest times, Reece Lycett was fifth quickest ahead of Luca Marinoni Osborne who left his fastest lap until the end of the session, with Riby and Rhys Hurd rounding out the top eighth.

Riby however lost his fastest lap for causing the mid-session stoppage which dropped him down outside the top ten, meaning Hurd moved up a spot and there was also a gain for debutant Olivier Algieri as well as James Black and Alex Keens.