Bradley Kent continued his resurgence as he took pole position for round five of the 2022 TCR UK Championship, the 50th TCR UK race, pushed all the way by Alex Ley, with the top twenty cars covered by just under one second.
The uninterrupted thirty-minute session on the Indy circuit saw all twenty-three cars on track in the early stages as they bedded in tyres and worked towards setting representative times with Bradley Kent soon setting the bar with an early time of 49.538, with times soon falling.
Isaac Smith, Bradley Hutchinson, Jac Constable and Bradley Hutchinson all traded times to be quickest in the session in the first ten minutes, however Ley then put his Daniel James Motorsport Hyundai top of the pile with the first lap under the 49 second barrier with a time of 48.765.
Free Practice pacesetter Kent then retaliated with a 48.746 followed by an even quicker 48.688, which was enough to give the Essex and Kent Motorsport driver pole position. Try as he might, Ley settled for second place, a mere seven thousandths of a second slower.
Lewis Kent lines his Essex and Kent Motorsport Hyundai Veloster up on row two for round five with Callum Newsham setting the fourth fastest time on his return to the championship in his Power Maxed Racing CUPRA TCR, as Adam Shepherd and Bruce Winfield complete the top six.
Chris Smiley’s efforts were ended earlier after getting a black flag, leaving the Restart Racing driver in seventh place for TCR UK’s 50th race with Bradley Hutchinson ready to pounce from eighth position in his Bond-It with MPHR Racing Audi RS3 LMS whilst both Isaac Smith and Jess Hawkins complete the top ten paces on the grid.
Jamie Tonks will start his Area Motorsport with FastR CUPRA TCR from 11th place with championship leader Max Hart suffering issues during the session and starting from 12th place with work to do, with Jac Constable starting from 13th in his Power Maxed Racing CUPRA TCR alongside JWB Motorsports Matthew Wilson in his CUPRA Leon Competición.
Darelle Wilson will start from 16th on the grid, at one stage going sixth quickest during the session with Jack Depper joining him ahead of the highest Goodyear Diamond Trophy driver Russell Joyce in 18th place.
Scott Sumpton (Hyundai), Ant Whorton-Eales (Subaru), Andy Wilmot (Hyundai), Neil Trotter (CUPRA), Chris Wallis (Hyundai) and Steve Gales (Audi) complete the gird of 23 starters.
