Caygill and Buncombe beat Garage 59’s Tillbrook and Clutton
Optimum’s Brown and Meakin start GT4 title quest from top spot
Josh Caygill and Al Buncombe have claimed pole position for British GT’s #BattleOfBrands championship decider after beating Garage 59’s Morgan Tillbrook and Marcus Clutton by a combined 0.08s.
Caygill achieved the feat on debut, but this was RJN’s first pole since 2020. Buncombe has waited far longer: not since Nurburgring 2012 has his car qualified fastest in British GT.
Further back, Optimum’s GT4 title contending McLaren starts in prime position thanks to Jack Brown and Zac Meakin who clinched their third pole of the season. They share the front row with DTO’s Aston Millar and Freddie Tomlinson, while championship leaders Jamie Day and Mikey Porter (Forsetti) line up third.
Back at the front, a new fastest-ever qualifying lap helped the GT3 title-chasing Sandy Mitchell and his Barwell co-driver Alex Martin finish third overall. That’s three places ahead of their points-leading team-mates Rob and Ricky Collard who missed most of Free Practice and all of Pre-Qualifying while their Lamborghini’s engine was changed.
However, Shaun Balfe and Adam Smalley’s already slim title hopes appear to be over after their McLaren stopped on track at the start of Q1. They must therefore win tomorrow’s race from 14th to have any hope of overturning a 36-point deficit.
There was also a new GT4 benchmark thanks to Gordie Mutch whose rapid Q4 lap elevated Mahiki’s Lotus from 12th to seventh. It also erased the class’ previous best set all the way back in 2016.
GT3: RJN BEATS THE USUAL SUSPECTS
An early red flag for separate incidents involving Balfe and the J&S Audi – which found the Clearways gravel trap – meant no times were set until halfway through the 10-minute session.
Caygill was first to strike and lowered the fastest lap twice more before the chequered flag fell. But his advantage was almost overcome by Garage 59's McLaren and Tillbrook whose final effort was just 0.012s slower.
They finished comfortably clear of Kevin Tse’s 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG and Collard. The latter’s fastest lap was 0.6s down on Caygill’s but still a remarkable effort given the circumstances. Not only did the championship-leading Lamborghini fail to complete any meaningful running earlier today but its driver hadn’t driven the GP circuit in anger since his previous British GT appearance at Brands four years ago.
Optimum’s Mark Radcliffe was fifth, one place ahead of Barwell’s other Lamborghini, the Orange/JMH McLaren, and Beechdean AMR’s Aston Martin.
The front row remained unchanged in Q2, although the gap did increase slightly between Buncombe – who set second fastest time of all – and Clutton.
Like Mutch, Mitchell’s new qualifying best of 1m22.196s usurped a lap set back in 2016. But its significance could be far greater given it vaulted #78 from sixth to third and ahead of the sister championship-leading Huracan.
2 Seas’ Mercedes-AMG dropped back a place as a result, but Tse and Maximilian Götz still secured a place on row two. They start ahead of Optimum’s Radcliffe and Tom Gamble, while the Collards dropped to sixth.
Sam Neary’s rapid Q2 time saw Abba’s Mercedes-AMG move up to seventh and claim Silver-Am pole at the expense of Beechdean AMR’s Vantage which nevertheless scored a season’s best grid slot thanks to new recruit Tom Wood.
GT4: OPTIMUM IN PRIME POSITION
Mutch might have set fastest time of all but it was the combined efforts of Brown and Meakin that secured what could prove a crucial pole position in the context of this year’s title decider.
Brown had kept the car out front by less than a tenth in Q1 before Meakin scorched clear to secure the McLaren its third pole position of the season by 0.8s.
The fight for top spot quickly boiled down to a two-horse race between the Optimum crew and DTO’s Ginetta shared by Millar and Tomlinson. Millar led the majority of the first 10 minutes and at one stage enjoyed a full one-second advantage. He pitted with just a minute to go looking assured of pole, but Brown found an extra gear on his very last tour to sneak the McLaren ahead by 0.075s.
The pair’s pace was such that they finished eight tenths clear of everybody else.
It would therefore come down to a straight fight between Meakin and Tomlinson. The latter initially did enough to move the Ginetta ahead until a monster lap from Meakin moved Optimum’s crew well clear on combined times.
Championship leaders Porter and Miller line up third in Forsetti’s Aston Martin and right behind their closest championship rivals who start 3.5 points adrift.
Pro-Am pole winners Charles Dawson and Seb Morris also kept their hopes of stealing the overall crown alive by securing fourth spot in the Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG. Three of the championship’s top four therefore occupy the front two rows.
Harry George and Luca Hopkinson were fifth in the RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG, as Sai Sanjay and Callum Davies rounded out the top six in RACE LAB’s McLaren.
The final crew in realistic title contention, Marc Warren and Will Orton, qualified eighth aboard the second of Forsetti’s Astons, one place behind the Lotus shared by Mutch and Ian Duggan.
British GT’s two-hour #BattleOfBrands starts at 13:30 BST on Sunday. Watch live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and Sky Sports F1.
BRANDS HATCH TIMETABLE
SUNDAY 29 SEPTEMBER
09:05 – 09:45: Pitwalk + autograph session
10:00 – 10:15: Warm-up
13:30 – 15:30: Race
LAP RECORDS
GT3 – 1m24.480s – Dan Harper – Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 – 2023
GT4 – 1m32.197s – Charlie Robertson – Assetto Motorsport Ginetta G56 GT4 – 2021
PITSTOP SPECIFICS
The number of driver changes are free but there are minimum and maximum total drive times for the starting driver. In GT4 starting drivers must complete a minimum of 58 minutes, while in GT3 this rises to 62 minutes. All classes share the same maximum starting drive time of 70 minutes.
Mandatory Pitstop Times (pit-in to pit-out)
GT3: 125s | GT4: 155s
Pitstop Compensation Time
20s – #63 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini (GT3) + N/A (GT4)
15s – N/A (GT3) + #31 Team Parker Racing Mercedes-AMG (GT4)
10s – #59 Garage 59 McLaren (GT3) + #29 Century Motorsport BMW (GT4)
All GT4 Silver Cup entries must serve an additional 24s during their mandatory driver changes and carry 25kg of ballast.
