The Beechdean Aston Martin DBRS9 will start its final race in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship from pole position after qualifying at the head of the field for the two-hour season finale at Silverstone.

Jonny Adam posted a time of 2m 03.880s around the GP circuit to clinch top spot during the session, with his early time being good enough to see off the challenge of the championship contenders behind.

It means the #7 Aston Martin – one of the oldest cars in the field – will be on pole for its final race before being retired at the end of the year.

“The car was quick round here on media day earlier in the year and since then, we’ve made a series of changes which really suit the old girl, and I’ve also got more used to the car,” Adam, who again shares with Beechdean boss Andrew Howard, said. “We spent some time in Darren Turner’s simulator ahead of the weekend to get used to the circuit again and it’s obviously worked. We ran well in testing and I think we have strong pace for the race later today.

“We’re not in contention for the title so we have nothing to lose and it would nice if we could get a win in the dry to go with the win at Rockingham. It’s the last race for the car and to send it out with a victory would be perfect.”

Adam’s closest challenger was the Trackspeed Porsche of Richard Westbrook, which ended the session 0.197s back in second. Westbrook’s co-driver David Ashburn is one of the twelve drivers who can still win the title, with a strong run required for the defending champion to stand any chance of making it back-to-back crowns.

Third fastest was Joe Osborne in the #29 Audi he will share with United Autosports co-owner Zak Brown; the pair running together for the first time this weekend. Osborne will be making his first British GT outing for the team having been a regular at the wheel of the R8 LMS in the FIA GT3 series.

Osborne’s team-mate Matt Bell, sharing once again with Mike Guasch, was fourth quickest in the second of the cars in contention for the championship title, with Tim Bridgman’s Trackspeed Porsche fifth. Bridgman and team-mate Gregor Fisken have to win if they are to stand any chance of championship success.

The top six was completed by the leading Ferrari 458 Italia in the hands of Matt Griffin; the MTech driver ending the session just under seven-tenths of a second away from pole. Griffin and co-driver Duncan Cameron go into the race second in the championship standings and will take the title if they can secure victory.

Championship leaders Glynn and Jim Geddie had to settle for ninth on the grid in their CRS Racing-entered Ferrari 458 while Donington race winners Michael Lyons and Charles Bateman will start the race from tenth on the grid for Scuderia Vittoria.

Pole in the GT4 class went to the Lotus of Chris Holmes and Phil Glew after Glew was able to edge ahead of the Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta of Dan Denis and David McDonald to clinch class honours.

Glew’s lap of 2m 13.478s was good enough for 23rd overall on the 30 car grid, with the #48 Evora GT4 targeting a repeat of its success at Donington a fortnight ago.

“It’s nice to be on pole but at the same time, it’s a shame that I didn’t manage to get a clear lap as I think we could have set a low 2m 13s or high 2m 12s,” Glew said. “Some of the slower GT3 drivers were causing real problems as they were coming past on the straights and then slowing me up in the corners which meant I wasn’t able to carry my speed through the bends. It’s going to make it challenging in the race trying to deal with them while also keeping the other GT4 cars behind.”

The Magic Racing Ginetta of Stewart Linn and Chris Midmark was third quickest in class ahead of championship leaders Marcus Clutton and Peter Belshaw in the ABG Motorsport KTM X-Bow. The pair need only to finish inside the top six to secure the GT4 title.

An expanded GT3B field saw the Barwell Motorsport-entered Aston Martin of Andy Ruhan and Paul Whight edge out the MTech Ferrari of John Dhillon and Aaron Scott by just 0.021s, while in GTC, Jordan Witt and Anthony Reid took class pole ahead of the sister Chevron GR8 of David Witt and Ray Grimes.