James Sutton took a double pole position for rounds 17 and 18 of the 2009 Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Rockingham today (Saturday 19 September 2009). Although just seven-hundredths of a second covered the top three drivers for round 17, Sutton bagged both pole positions as well as two more championship points.

Robert Lawson narrowly headed pro-am1 for both races, while Glenn McMenamin topped the pro-am2 times for both races as the title battles head into the closing stages.

Sutton (Red Line Racing) was elated to take both poles and close the points' gap on Tim Bridgman and Tim Harvey. "I love this championship and wouldn't want to be anywhere else," he said. "The car was perfect and that's exactly what we needed to do." Harvey (Red Line Racing) was right behind his team mate on both grids. "We had a plan and worked together," said Harvey. "I'm glad to be in front of Tim Bridgman, who is my main championship rival."

For Bridgman (Team Parker Racing), it was a frustrating session although he took two third places despite a couple of early overshoots at Turn 2. "It just seemed low grip at Turn 2 and it just didn't stop," said Bridgman. "That spoilt the first run." Then, he was chasing a potential pole lap later in the session when he was forced to back off for yellow flags. "It was a bit of a scrappy session," he said.

Fourth and fifth places on the two grids were shared between Tom Bradshaw (Team Parker Racing) and Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance), with Bradshaw having his best qualifying run to date. "We're in the mix and certainly progressing," said Bradshaw.

Top of pro-am1 for both races was Robert Lawson (JHR), who came back strongly after a troubled day in testing. "The car was much better; I'm pleased with two poles," said Lawson, who trimmed two points from Glynn Geddie's pro-am1 lead as a result. Ollie Jackson (Motorbase Performance) and Geddie (Team Parker Racing) shared second and third places in pro-am1 with Tony Gilham (Red Line Racing) a very close fourth on both grids.

Glenn McMenamin (Parr Motorsport) topped the very competitive pro-am2 category, from Paul Hogarth (IN2Racing) and championship newcomer Steve Parish (Motorbase Performance). "That's a really important result; two more points," said McMenamin.