King Arthur rules in Highlands qualifying

Arthur Broughan put himself in the best possible position – pole – to relaunch his title attack in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship at Highlands Motorsport Park this morning.

Broughan stamped his authority on qualifying with the best lap of the 20-minute session on his first flying lap to take Sunday’s feature race pole position.

The early laps were always going to be important on this long track, at just over 4km, the longest on the calendar. The Bridgestone tyres are always at their best early – like any race tyre – and so it proved as the fastest runners all recorded their best laps on their first or second flying laps.

Broughan – pace setter on Friday during three practice sessions in a well-sorted Mackenzie Motorsport GR86 – picked up from where he had left off the day before with a stunning first flying lap under the 1 minute 50 second mark.

Only championship leader Chris White could get close with a lap only four hundredths of a second off Arthur’s best, but it wasn’t enough, and the best of the grip – and the cooler morning conditions – had gone.

Broughan, spectacular around a track he says is his favourite on the whole Bridgestone GR86 Championship, had his car by the scruff of the neck through the bus stop chicane, and that momentum was enough to give him the edge. His time would not be beaten.

Cooper Barnes got his session off to a flying start with the next best time, just a whisker ahead of Justin Allen. Reigning champion Hugo Allan took a lap or so longer to squeeze his best lap out of the session to edge Barnes for that third place. Hugo’s second fastest lap, however, was better than the rest and won him pole position for the afternoon’s first race.

Josh Bethune couldn’t quite match Barnes’ impressive pace, but could be satisfied with sixth and a starting spot on the third row for the feature race. Teammate Simon Hunter was next ahead of Ajay Giddy.

Ninth on the grid will be Zach Blincoe, the championship challenger, leaving himself plenty of work to do during the race to take another decent haul of points and keep the pressure on White. Mac Templeton completed the top ten.

2025-2026 Bridgestone GR86 Championship – Round 4 – Qualifying – Race 1 (Second fastest lap times from Qualifying)

2025-2026 Bridgestone GR86 Championship – Round 4 – Qualifying – Feature Race

Header Image: Bruce Jenkins