QE Motorsports took its second Challenge pole position of the 2024 season when Haydn Payne lapped the 2.19 miles of Cadwell Park in 1:55.239 to put the team’s #72 Citroen C1 on the front row of the 29-car grid for the first of the weekend’s three 15-minute contests.
QE Motorsports took its second Challenge pole position of the 2024 season when Haydn Payne lapped the 2.19 miles of Cadwell Park in 1:55.239 to put the team’s #72 Citroen C1 on the front row of the 29-car grid for the first of the weekend’s three 15-minute contests.
Second quickest of the 13-car Student Motorsport Challenge grid was the #12 West Suffolk College ME Toyota Aygo driven by Brady Pollock who put in a 1:55.404 on his final lap of eight to go third quickest overall.
Completing the top three in class was Payne’s teammate Joshua Jackson in the #27 QEM2 car who lapped in 1:55.408.
The session got underway under an overcast sky but dry and warm track conditions. The red flag came out after just over five minutes when Joe Moss in the #23 Citroen went off at the Gooseneck. The session was neutralised to allow for the safe recovery of the stricken car with Moss thankfully unhurt but shaken by the incident.
The session was re-started and after the chequered flag was shown, Challenge cars occupied five of the top six grid positions for the first race for the BRSCC Nankang Tyre City Car Cup Championship triple-header at Cadwell Park.
Elliot Lettis in the #3 City College Norwich 1 Peugeot qualified 4th in class followed by Jack Wheeler in the #57 East Surrey College entry. Rory Pickles, driving the #52 Boston College Racing Citroen qualified 6th in class followed by Ari Barker in the #87 Team Northbrook Racing 2 Citroen. Teammate Richard Jepp in the Challenge standings-leading #65 TNR1 entry was 8th quickest in class. Jepp reported that the rear end of the car felt unstable but was confident that a solution would be found ahead of the first Challenge contest of the weekend. The #65 car had gone off the circuit during the previous day’s testing which resulted in damage to the chassis.
Barracksport GSR’s Matty Prance, substituting for regular pilot James Smith, was 9th quickest, followed by Sussex Motorsports’ Colin Dunn and WSC ME2’s Andrew Payne.
Boston College Racing’s Liam Browning, returning to the Challenge from the Cadwell Park rounds onward, could only manage a single lap in qualifying after a gear linkage problem. The team is confident the car will be ready for the first race.
Glenn Bee, at the wheel of the #10 CCN2 entry, completed the Challenge qualifiers.
QE Motorsports’ Haydn Payne was calm and focused after taking his first pole position in class.
“The car felt slower today than it did in testing yesterday,” he said. “It felt like the car had a lot less grip but looking at the times, they got quicker and quicker. I’ve not had a lot of experience around this circuit, just four 25-minute sessions during testing, but it’s good fun round Cadwell Park. The cars behave like go-karts here so it’s good fun.
“We hope we can convert our pole position in class to my first Challenge victory,” continued Haydn Payne. “Brady (Pollock) and I will work together over the first part of the race and bring Joshua (Jackson) with us and hopefully build a gap to the rest of Challenge field.”
The lights go out for Race One for the BRSCC Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup Championship at 4.45pm on Saturday August the 10th.