Dempsey Secures Pole in Walter Hayes Trophy Heat Three
B-M Racing's Jordan Dempsey narrowly edged out Team Dolan's Niall Murray to claim pole position for the third heat of the Walter Hayes Trophy.
Dempsey set an early benchmark with a lap time of 1m08.209s, while Irishman Lee Newsome faced challenges getting his car ready as the Silverstone track dried. Callum Grant, driving a Van Diemen RF91, briefly led with a 1m07.343s lap before Dempsey improved his time to 1m06.742s, narrowly ahead of Vertical Racing’s Ian Campbell by 0.012 seconds.
Shortly after, Dempsey extended his lead by 0.145 seconds. His teammate, Tom McArthur, moved into second place, 0.121 seconds behind the new fastest time. Murray was initially seventh but quickly surged to first with a remarkable 1m05.449s lap, leading by 1.148 seconds.
With seven minutes remaining, Grant closed the gap to Murray to 0.879 seconds. Dempsey responded by reclaiming the fastest time by 0.108 seconds, and McArthur overtook Grant by 0.061 seconds. Lewis Fox of Team Fox Racing broke into the top four with a lap 0.714 seconds slower than Dempsey but was soon 1.039 seconds off as Murray posted a new best of 1m05.016s.
Dempsey then lowered the pole time further to 1m04.597s. However, Murray could not improve due to an incident at Brooklands, and a separate off by AF Racing’s Adam Fathers at Copse led to brief yellow flags.
With five minutes to go, Campbell reentered the pole contention, trading third place with McArthur as Murray closed the gap to Dempsey to within 0.147 seconds.
“Dempsey laid down a 1m08.209s benchmark early on, as fellow Irishman Lee Newsome struggled to get his car going and onto a drying Silverstone track.”
“Murray was in seventh, but with his next lap moved to the top by a huge 1.148s as he set a 1m05.449s.”
“Some drama at Brooklands prevented Murray from improving with his next lap, then AF Racing’s Adam Fathers had an off at Copse that also briefly led to yellow flags.”
Summary: Jordan Dempsey won pole position in a closely fought battle with Niall Murray, both drivers pushing the limits amid challenging track conditions and yellow flags.