MATT LUFF BAGS RECORD-BREAKING PEMBREY POLE

Matt Luff snared pole for the third meeting of the Mairon Motorsport MINI CHALLENGE Trophy season with a lap-record breaking performance in qualifying at Pembrey.

The Graves Motorsport driver emerged on top of the pile after a frenetic 15 minute long session at the Welsh circuit to score a double position, beating the previous lap record held by Matt Hammond in the process.

Luff’s best lap came on his fourth tour as the leading three runners all set their quick laps early in the session, with a time of 1:08.086s being good enough to see off Josh Wilby by just 0.040s

“It’s super, super close and it was all about getting the lap in when you could,” he said. “This track is super, super abrasive and the tyres fell away as the session went on but I’m really happy with this and hopefully we can now convert it into a win.

“As time goes on the races, I think we could see some mistakes coming in if you’re running in the pack, so I’m expecting some exciting action.”

Luff’s second best time was also good enough to put him at the front of the pack for the opening race, where he will line-up alongside team-mate Alex Keens.

Keens was third quickest on the times despite the fact that he was only 0.088s down on Luff’s time, with the defending champion being the final man to lap below Hammond’s previous record.

Luca Marinoni Osborne, fresh from his fine weekend at Snetterton last time out, was fourth quickest having just managed to edge out Josh Selvadorai for a spot on the second row, with the pair split by just 0.003s.

That gave Selvadorai top honours amongst the Rookie Cup entrants with Chris Doble just behind, with the top eight rounded out by Henry Foote and Ashley Gregory.

Richard Jepp was top Directors Cup runner in eleventh spot, with the leading 14 drivers on the times covered by less than a second.