Keen, Parfitt Secure British GT Poles at Spa

Photo: British GT

Rick Parfitt and Phil Keen will start from pole position in Race 1 and Race 2 respectively in the British GT Championship double-header at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday.

Parfitt was the fastest driver in the GT3 Am qualifying session to decide the starting order for the first 60-minute contest around the Belgian track, putting his No. 31 Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental GT3 on pole.

He was followed by title rival Phil Keen who topped the GT3 Pro timesheets to secure the top spot ahead of the second race for Barwell Motorsport in one of the team’s three Lamborghini Huracan GT3s present this weekend.

Jack Mitchell looked set to take the honors in the first session driving his Macmillan AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3 although a late flier put the Bentley driver out front by 0.376 seconds.

Jon Minshaw and Piti Bhirombakdi will start from third and fourth, behind Parfitt and Mitchell.

Minshaw’s co-driver Keen denied Team Parker a double pole by going 0.143 seconds quicker in the second session of the afternoon.

The Bentleys remained strong however, with Callum Macleod and Seb Morris holding on for second and third ahead of Carlo van Dam, whose Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 starts from fourth in both races.

The only GT3 car not to turn laps was the Spirit of Race Ferrari which suffered a severe crash in Free Practice 1, ruling Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin out of the weekend.

Will Tregurtha secured GT4 class pole for Race 1 in his HHC Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4, while Joe Osborne put his Tolman Motorsport-run McLaren 570S GT4 on top in the GT4 Pro session to decide the grid for Race 2.

The No. 100 Black Bull Garage 59 McLaren of Sandy Mitchell and Ciaran Haggerty will start from second in class in both races.

Series returnee Ebor GT topped both Free Practice sessions on Friday morning but was forced to park its Maserati GT MC GT4 and miss qualifying, with the aim of making the grid for the races.

Race 1 gets underway at 9:20 a.m. local time on Saturday.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.