Winfield sets pole at Donington in red-flagged Qualifying
TCR UK’s season finale at Donington Park began with Area Motorsport’s Bruce Winfield and his CUPRA DSG claiming their second consecutive pole position in a Qualifying session that was red-flagged less than two minutes before the end, when Jac Constable went off.
Lewis Kent and Dan Kirby – first and second in the points – qualified in 16th and 13th positions respectively, which puts Bradley Kent and Max Hart in the position of reshuffling the standings in today’s three races.
During the early stages of the 15-minute session, Hart (Maximum Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), Bradley Kent (Essex & Kent Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N) and Alex Morgan (Power Maxed Racing, CUPRA) took turns on top of the timesheet.
Hart was the first to complete a lap in less than one-minute-12 as he clocked a provisional pole position of 1:11.887 that was soon bettered by Bradley Kent’s 1:11.862. Morgan was even faster in 1:11.513, Kent responded with 1:11.266 but Morgan seemed to have settled the matter with an impressive 1:10.908.
However, Winfield posted a 1:10.652 with two minutes left on the clock, just before the red flag was waved.
The session was not resumed, and so Morgan qualified second, followed by Bradley Kent, Constable, Andy Wilmot and Hart.
Lewis Kent, who defends a 21-point lead over Kirby, will start Race 1 from the back of the grid after his four fastest laps were disallowed due to track limit infringements; Kirby will start from P13. In the standings, Bradley Kent and Hart must fill gaps of 26 and 30 points respectively, when 78 points are on offer in today’s three races.
Race 1 will start at 13:15 local time (14:15 CEST); live streaming at www.tcr-series-com.
Donington Park - Qualifying
1:10.652 Bruce Winfield (Area Motorsport, CUPRA DSG)
1:10.908 Alex Morgan (Power Maxed Racing, CUPRA)
1:11.266 Bradley Kent (Essex & Kent Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N)
1:11.328 Jac Constable ((Power Maxed Racing, CUPRA)
1:11.455 Andy Wilmot (Maximum Motorsport, CUPRA)
Championship points
1. L. Kent 200 pts; 2. D. Kirby 179; 3. B. Kent 176
Picture: TCR UK/Jakob Ebrey
