NATHAN EDWARDS, CAM RICHARDSON GRAB KNOCKHILL POLES

Nathan Edwards secured his second pole position in three meetings after topping the times in qualifying for the latest rounds of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE at Knockhill, with Cameron Richardson leading the way in the Sport category.

The EXCELR8 driver emerged at the head of the field after a frenetic session that saw various people hold provisional top spot as conditions improved after a damp circuit greeted the teams on arrival.

Max Hall had been the man to beat in the first half of the session before the teenager brought out the red flag when he slowed at the entry to the chicane having suffered a puncture.

After a brief stoppage as he recovered to the pits, the session resumed with Dan Zelos moving into P1 before Edwards – having had an earlier quick lap removed from track limits – hit the front with a time two-tenths of a second quicker than the defending champion.

Dominic Wheatley and Hall both then topped Zelos to move into second and third and were pushing to close the gap to pole in the closing moment when Gerry Hendry went off at turn three for a second time in the session and got stuck in the gravel – bringing an early end to proceedings.

“I’d never even been here until Tuesday and we weren’t very quick when we were testing,” Edwards said. “I took the weekend as a bit of a free hit because of my lack of time here so to stick it on pole in amazing.

“After a tough weekend at Croft last time out, we’re back to the kind of form we showed at Oulton Park and it’s an unbelievable feeling.”

Wheatley would therefore have to settle for second place at a circuit where he has plenty of experience from his time in the Scottish MINI series, with Hall in third spot.

Second fastest times however will see Wheatley lead the field away from pole in race one ahead of Hall and Zelos, with Edwards back in fifth spot – although he will start fourth due to a penalty for Jamie Osborne carried over from Croft.

“It’s a fantastic start to the weekend,” Wheatley said. “We struggled with rear grip in testing yesterday but when we bolted the race tyres on, it was a lot better. We left our new tyres until late on and it went to plan.

“I’ve not had the best luck here in the JCW car but maybe my experience helped in changeable conditions and we can hopefully race well.”

Zelos would end the session with the fourth quickest time ahead of Osborne, with Lewis Selby in sixth spot – with the NAPA Racing UK duo both running their revised liveries for the weekend in support of Race Against Dementia.

Marlo Cordell, Nelson King, Josh Porter and Tom Ovenden then rounded out the top ten, despite Ovenden going off into the gravel at turn two mid-way through the session.

Richardson secured an impressive pole in the Sport class as he outpaced Albert Webster by two-tenths of a second.

Webster’s second quickest time puts him on race one pole however by just 0.016s, with the Invitational entry of Hannah Chapman in third for both races. Points leader Dylan Hotchin will line up fourth and fifth in class.

“Pole is great when I’ve never been here,” Richardson said. “It’s not an easy circuit to adjust to and the first few laps in testing were trusting the circuit was there when you went through the chicane! This is a positive start.”