Tim Harvey and James Sutton each took a pole position ahead of rounds 11 and 12 of the 2009 Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Snetterton today (Saturday 1 August 2009). Harvey claimed top spot for round 11, while his Red Line Racing teammate Sutton took pole for round 12. Meanwhile, Glynn Geddie topped the pro-am1 times for both races and Paul Hogarth took a double pole in pro-am2.

Although rain threatened, the track stayed dry throughout a typically close and hard fought qualifying session and with 22 cars on track getting a clear lap was very important. The times were incredibly close and in the final reckoning the first 10 cars were covered by just over a second.

It was Harvey who finally took pole for round 11, claiming his first pole of the season as he brought Tim Bridgman's unbroken run of 10 poles to an end. "At last," said a delighted Harvey. "It's good to be on top on sheer speed and great to finally get a pole. This has always been a good circuit for me."

Lapping within a tenth of Harvey were Sutton and Bridgman (Team Parker Racing), but it was Sutton who set the fastest second-best lap in qualifying to take pole for round 12. "I was trying really hard to bolt two good laps together," said Sutton. Harvey was second for round 12 from Bridgman as three-hundredths of a second covered the top three cars. "I had a car good enough for pole and each time I went for a lap I got traffic," said Bridgman.

Fourth fastest for both races was Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance) and it was Geddie (Team Parker Racing) who took fifth for both races and an impressive double pole for the pro-am1 category. "That's where we need to be," said Geddie, who showed fine pace after a run of misfortune over recent races.

But the times were just as tight in pro-am1 as in the leading overall standings and running very close to Geddie on both sets of times were Tony Gilham (Red Line Racing) and Ollie Jackson (Motorbase Performance). "That was my first run of the weekend on new tyres," said Gilham, who was pleased to find improvements through the session. Jackson, too, had qualified very strongly. "It was a good session, but I still feel I could have gone a bit quicker," said Jackson. JHR teammates Derek Pierce and Robert Lawson shared fourth and fifth places in pro-am1, with Lawson feeling that he should have found a bit more speed.

Hogarth (IN2Racing) topped pro-am2 for both races after a hard-charging session. "That was very, very tight indeed," said Hogarth. "It was a fantastic session; I'm very pleased with that." Taking the fight to Hogarth in style was Glenn McMenamin (Parr Motorsport) and Paul Mace (GT Marques) and with a fifth of a second covering the top three cars the stage is set for a great contest in pro-am2 as well as for the overall and pro-am1 podiums.