Lucky Khera (Graypaul Birmingham) in the Trofeo Pirelli and John Seale (Carrs Ferrari) in the Coppa Shell, claimed the first pole positions of the fourth season of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli UK, which kicks off this weekend at Oulton Park.
Trofeo Pirelli. Coming into the 2022 Ferrari Challenge UK season, eyes were on Khera in the Trofeo Pirelli class. Having won the series in 2020, he was narrowly beaten to the title in 2021 in the season finale at Oulton Park. Khera quickly demonstrated his pace early into the first qualifying session, initially setting the fastest lap of the session. Khera continued to push and was the only driver of the day to get in to the 1:39 bracket, with a time of 1:39.508.
His commitment paid off, with three drivers in the Trofeo Pirelli class who went on to set their fastest lap times in the 1:40 bracket. Having won the Coppa Shell class in 2021, Graham De Zille (Meridien Modena) qualified second with a time of 1:40.044, Paul Hogarth (Stratstone Manchester) third with a time of 1:40.124 and Faisal Al-Faisal (HR Owen London) fourth with a time of 1:40.592. Demonstrating the competitiveness of the drivers, just 0.6 seconds separated the three drivers.
Coppa Shell. The battle for pole in the Coppa Shell was equally close, with new-comer John Seale taking pole in his first ever qualifying session in the Ferrari Challenge UK series. Although new to the series, Seale has previous experience racing a Ferrari 488 Challenge in the GTC class in British GT Cup and therefore has great knowledge of both Ferrari and the British circuits that form the backbone of the Ferrari Challenge UK 2022 Series.
Paul Rogers (JCT600 Brooklands) was less than 0.2 seconds behind Seale with a time of 1:41.568, closely followed by Jason Ambrose (Dick Lovett Swindon). Despite 2022 also being his first season, Ambrose was immediately on the pace, with 1:41.785 the third fastest lap time in the Coppa Shell class.
Programme. The first race at Oulton Park will start at 2.55pm, with both Trofeo Pirelli and Coppa Shell classes on track for 30 minutes.