NEWS

QUALIFYING REPORT – 5TH ON GRID AT SILVERSTONE

Siverstone

North East driver Matty Graham will start Sunday’s Silverstone 500 from fifth on the GT4 grid following Saturday’s qualifying sessions, with the Macmillan Racing driver feeling positive heading into the race

With a return to the qualifying format that combines the times of both drivers to set the grid, Matty’s team-mate Jack Mitchell laid the foundations in the opening 10 minute session, finishing fifth with a lap of 2:14.196.

It was an effort that saw him 1.2 seconds off the session’s fastest time and only six tenths of a second adrift of the fastest Aston Martin, in a good showing for the number 42 car.

Matty’s first effort initially vaulted his Aston Martin into provisional pole position, but as others improved, he dropped back to fifth.

A best lap of 2:13.697 left Graham less than two tenths off the time of his rival in the fastest Aston Martin but unable to make any inroads into the times set by the fastest car.

With three hours of racing to be driven on Sunday, both drivers are well placed towards the front of the class grid and aiming to build on the their first podium finish in the series at Oulton Park two weeks ago.

Speaking at the end of a day where he has consistently been among the fastest times when on track, Graham said, “The day started well, in free practice one, we ended up as the fastest car with a really good lap and felt we still had some things to work on with some time to find.

“The adjustments we made for second practice didn’t quite work as well as we thought they would, so we went back to our original set up for qualifying.

“I think in all it was a good session, we’re fifth and in a three hour race, really anything is possible. I think that the Mclaren is going to be really hard to beat without them having a problem, but I think we are well matched with the rest of the grid and I think we can get a strong result tomorrow.”

Sunday’s race begins at 12:50 and is broadcast live on Motors TV