Doran in pole land

Isachsen rescues his weekend. Linnemann takes Super1600 pole.

Sverre Isachsen did everything he could in the third heat. A perfect start. Led the race from start to finish. Posted FTD from the first of the Supercar races. Then all he could do was sit back and wonder if 20 points from qualifying would be a low enough total to get him into the finals. Along the way there was some help; Jos Jansen withdrew from his race and Kevin Procter was denied a start having been told he had arrived in the dummy grid area too late. Others failed to improve their position: Ron Snoeck went off, as did Frode Holte in the best race of the day so far, a rare old tussle that involved Davy Jeanney (who retired with broken suspension) and Toomas Heikkinen, the latter smacking the Joker Lap barrier in the last lap and losing any chance he had of beating Hunsbedt. The close combat, however, did no-one except Isachsen any favours. When all was said and done, Isachsen’s third heat thrash was just enough to get into the finals, albeit on the back of the C final in 15th place.

Up front, second fastest time in the heat brought Liam Doran on to pole position with Citroën team mate Timur Timerzyanov alongside him in second place. Holte and Andy Scott share the second row, the latter seventh fastest in the third heat in what is turning into an outstanding weekend and his best yet at this level. Last direct qualifier, Hunsbedt is also set for a best result of the season while the B final looks like providing a tough race: Foust, Walfridson, Koutny, Laboulle and Heikkinen the certain starters.

The third heat mixed up the TouringCar order a little, largely thanks to the fact that Lars Øivind Enerberg was spun out of the lead of his race and ended up with the slowest time of the 17-strong class. Roman Castoral set fastest time and joins Enerberg on the front of the grid, Derek Tohill second fastest and sharing the second row with third qualifier Jos Sterkens while Par Magne Røyrås is the last of the qualifiers.

Fastest time in the third heat put Ulrik Linnemann on pole for the Super1600 A final, the Dane joined there by Julian Godfrey, the Briton having come within an ace of winning here last year, again looking strong. Christian Petrakovits was third fastest (as in the second heat) and shares the second row of the grid with newcomer Vadim Makarov, the former autocross champion making light work of his debut ERC event. Points leader Andreas Bakkerud is the fifth starter, a position that may ordinarily be a disaster but with Linnemann the only title rival also in the A final, a situation of much less concern to the Norwegian.

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