QUALIFIED BRITISH GT SUCCESS AT SNETTERTON

Matty will start Sunday’s first British GT race at Snetterton from fourth on the GT4 class grid and seventh for the second, following Saturday’s qualifying sessions at the Norfolk Circuit.

Setting a lap of 1:58.043 in his session for the seventh slot, while team mate Jack Mitchell claimed fourth with his 1:59.047 effort on what was an encouraging day for the pair and their Generation AMR Macmillan Racing team.

Matty was aiming to improve on his initial efforts in the closing moments of the session, and was lowering his personal best sector times, before an off track excursion for Generation AMR Superdry Racing’s Matthew George brought the session to a premature close.

It had been an encouraging days’ work for the drivers and team up to that point with the North East driver setting a competitive pace in the two free practice sessions. His fastest laps placing the team’s number 42 Aston Martin Vantage fifth out of 17 in the first and third in the second.

And while both drivers would have preferred to have set the outright pace in qualifying, the consistency of their lap times gives cause for optimism ahead of Sunday’s two, one hour races.

Matty said: “I’ve been pretty happy with the car today. It’s a shame qualifying didn’t really reflect our pace after we were caught out with a red flag stopping the session, which cost us time on track.

“We were in the top three in practice, so we know we have the pace to have a good pair of races and I think we’ll have a strong day tomorrow.

“I’ve had some good results here at Snetterton and I’m loving it in the Aston. I think we can have a great day tomorrow.”