Darren Fielding tops drenched qualifying behind safety car
Darren Fielding topped a sodden qualifying session at the Silverstone Classic, although it remains unclear if the times will stand with the whole session taking place behind the safety car.
With heavy rain falling on the Northamptonshire circuit all day, the track was covered in standing water, forcing the organisers to start qualifying behind the safety car, as they had done in the previous session for Historic Formula 1 cars.
However, unlike in the Formula 1 session, the weather never improved enough to allow the safety car to pull in, meaning everyone was stuck behind the safety car for the entirety of the twenty minutes.
The advantage went the way of drivers who needed to make a pit stop in order to change drivers or check problems, forcing them to drop back from the pack and race back to the end of the train of cars.
As a result, Darren Fielding took provisional pole after he took over from BTCC driver Adam Morgan, who will be making a guest appearance in both Saturday and Sunday’s races in different cars.
The weather and safety car situation also benefited those in lower classes, with Chris Ward taking second in a Jaguar XJS, meaning there were no ST1-class cars on the front row of the grid.
ST1 did lock out the second and third rows, however, with Jon Finnemore leading Graeme and James Dodd, with John Cleland rounding out the top six. Immediately behind Cleland was Tim Harvey, who also set a quick time when catching back up to the pack behind the safety car, ahead of Andy Wolfe in the Opel Astra.
Finally Mark Hazell, who encountered troubles in the closing stages, and Tony Absolom rounded out the top ten.
Notable absentees from the top ten positions include multiple Super Touring winner, Stewart Whyte, Simon Garrad in his new-to-the-series Opel Vectra and Patrick Watts in the Peugeot 406.
