Both cars were in the gravel trap in Qualifying 1 only 20 minutes earlier, after the co-drivers spun in the opening race qualifying session!
“I’ve been so close so many times,” enthused Burdon, “the car had slightly flat spotted tyres from Neric’s spin in the gravel. But it’s nice to get one finally!”
Neric Wei spun the 18 KCMG car in Qualifying 1, necessitating the first Red Flag. Qualifying 1 was further interrupted with a second red flag for Eurasia Car #91, with Alex Au causing the session to end prematurely when he also departed the road at Turn 1 in the dying seconds of the session.
The curtailed Q1 ended with Aaron Kwok’s FS Sports team driver Andy Yan earning pole position for Race 1. Andrew Waite was second for PTRS, spicing up the championship fight, while Garnet Patterson will start from the inside of Row 2 for the opening race Saturday.
Session two was another epic battle of the highest grade drivers, with Burdon swapping the pole during the session with Yann Clairay in the PTRS #17, and Dan Wells in the Evisu #91 Ligier until Burdon struck again with the pole sealer. Burdon’s 1:32.56 time puts him 0.166 seconds ahead of Wells.
Second and seventh were then only separated by an extremely tight 0.15 seconds.
Victim of the tight times were series driver and team points leader Craft Bamboo Racing. James Winslow will start the feature race 6th, while his championship rivals at PTRS start on the row in front of him in the main race Sunday, setting up a possible battle royale for the title if the Cars 3 #95 team can’t get a good result in the opening race, where Hiroki Yoshida, subbing for Mathias Beche in the #95 will also start P6.
The opening FRD LMP3 race will be held on Saturday, with the championship finale Sunday. Both races will be live streamed, with tickets available at the circuit.
