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Gabe Fairbrother maintained the strong form he showed at Croft two weeks ago by grabbing pole as the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy drivers hit the grid for a chaotic qualifying session at Silverstone.<\/strong><\/p>\n The EXCELR8 driver grabbed a double victory at Croft as he made it onto the top step of the podium for the first time, and backed it up with a record-breaking performance around the short National circuit in a session where the previous qualifying record was beaten by the leading nine drivers.<\/p>\n Fairbrother emerged with a quickest lap that was just 0.003s quicker than Rhys Hurd, securing top spot despite spending the final moments of the session parked in the pits after being one of a number of drivers to be handed a black flag for exceeding track limits at turn one.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad we kept the momentum going from Croft and it\u2019s great to score my first MINI CHALLENGE pole,\u201d he said. \u201cEven when I got the black flag, I felt confident we could keep pole because I\u2019d been in P1 for a while and people weren\u2019t going quicker, and it actually helped us to save the tyres.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe races are going to be interesting and hopefully people give each other room and respect so that track limits don\u2019t become an issue, but it\u2019s going to be tough if you are in traffic. Hopefully I can stay at the front and that won\u2019t be an issue\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just the gap between the top two that was next to nothing, with points leader Sam Gornall just 0.007s down on Hurd in third spot, and rookie Olivier Algieri just 0.014s down on him – leaving the top four covered by 0.024s.<\/p>\n Gornall however will be the lead driver for the opening race of the weekend, with his second best time being the quickest in the field.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m ahead of my two main title rivals which is important, but we just struggled to get that last little bit of pace,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing on pole for race one is a nice bonus and we have to try and make the most of it and bring home a big score.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Luca Marinoni Osborne was fifth quickest in the session but will join Gornall on the front row for race one, with Alex Solley, James Black and Reece Lycett rounding out the top eight.<\/p>\n One noticeable absentee from the sharp end of the grid is the man second in the championship standings Harry Hickton, who was the driver to lose out most from track limits penalties – losing no fewer than 14 laps over the course of the session.<\/p>\n It means that rather than qualifying in the top eight, he will start race three from back in twelfth spot with his second quickest time now only good enough for 26th on the 27 car grid.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_enable_image=”off” background_size=”contain” background_position=”center_left” custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-09-21-at-11.34.22.jpeg” title_text=”WhatsApp Image 2024-09-21 at 11.34.22″ _builder_version=”4.27.0″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-09-21-at-11.34.21.jpeg” title_text=”WhatsApp Image 2024-09-21 at 11.34.21″ _builder_version=”4.27.0″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-09-21-at-11.34.24.jpeg” title_text=”WhatsApp Image 2024-09-21 at 11.34.24″ _builder_version=”4.27.0″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gabe Fairbrother maintained the strong form he showed at Croft two weeks ago by grabbing pole as the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE Trophy drivers hit the grid for a chaotic qualifying session at Silverstone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1462,1466],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-cooper"],"yoast_head":"\n