A Lamborghini tops Spa 24 Hours Qualifying

SROSPA24

Jun 28

The combined Qualifying session of the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps saw 3 Porsches, 2 Ferraris, 2 Mercedes, 2 Aston Martin and 1 Lamborghini in the top 10 with Jordan Pepper securing P1 with the #163 Grasser Racing Lamborghini.

Format of the Qualifying session

Like any qualifying session of the Fanatec GT World Challenge, the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps qualifying is split in as many sessions as the maximum number of drivers per car. At Spa, as there are 4 drivers in several teams, the qualifying is divided in four-parts: one per driver-car. Teams with four drivers are participating to the first qualifying session. The PRO teams having 3 drivers per car are entering in play from Qualifying 2 onwards.

The performance per driver is critical as the access and ranking to the Superpole is based on the average lap time of all drivers per car. The combined qualifying results are thereby evolving with the fastest lap of each driver. Davide Rigon topped session 2 in Ferrari #51 while the pair Vidales-Abril had #71 sister car in P1 after round 3. A stellar lap from Jordan Pepper in #163 Grasser Racing Lamborghini and a slower lap by Neubauer in #71 got the order reshuffled as follow.

GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini tops qualifying

Jordan Pepper was the fastest of all drivers to qualify in 2:14.903, securing a prime running slot for today's Superpole showdown at 15:45 CEST. The South African driver shares the #163 Grasser Racing Lamborghini with F. Perera and M. Mapelli.

Ferrari #51 second

A strong consistency of Alessio Rovera (2:15.382), Davide Rigon (2:15.307) and Alessandro Pier Guidi (2:15.274) with #51 Ferrari 296 GT3 put them in P2 with only 0.108 seconds between the three with lap times among the fastest of all participating drivers..

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours test days.

Mercedes-AMG third

M. Engel, D. Morad and L. Auer with #48 Mercedes AMG Team MANN-FILTER Mercedes-AMG GT3 are third 0.096 seconds slower than the Benchmark.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours test days.

Vincent Abril gets second Ferrari in top 4.

Vincent Abril was the second driver of combined sessions to drive a lap under the 2:15 mark (2:14.938) with #71 Ferrari 296 GT3. Together with D. Vidales and T. Neubauer they’ll be fourth to start the SuperPole.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours.

Two Aston Martin in top 10

M. Drudi, N. Thiim and M. Sorensen with #007 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage are fifth while Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage #34 driven by David Pittard, Ross Gunn and Helio Chaves is 10th.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours.

There Porsche 911 GT3 R in top 10

The Chinese outfit Phantom Global Racing emerged from today’s qualifying session as the best-placed Porsche customer team. The #23 squad receives support from Porsche brand ambassador Timo Bernhard’s Team75. Joel Eriksson from Sweden and the two former Porsche Juniors Jaxon Evans (New Zealand) and Thomas Preining (Austria) achieved an average lap time of 2:15.689 minutes – earning them sixth place.

Thomas Preining (Porsche 911 GT3R #23): “That was a decent qualifying session. All three of us got a clean lap without too much traffic – which is unusual for Spa. Despite qualifying for Superpole, there’s some work to do. We’re still not completely happy with the balance of the car. Fundamentally, despite lacking a bit of pace compared to one or two other manufacturers, the 911 GT3 R runs beautifully. But I’m sure we’ll sort it out by the start of the race.”

The #22 French team Schumacher CLRT qualified in seventh, just 0.062 seconds behind. Two other drivers from the junior programme represent this team, with Ayhancan Güven from Turkey and Germany’s Laurin Heinrich sharing the cockpit with Dorian Boccolacci from France.

Laurin Heinrich (Porsche 911 GT3R #22): “With more than 60 cars on the track, qualifying at Spa is always a bit chaotic. It’s extremely important to find a suitable gap. All three of us did exactly that; we found a clear lap, didn’t stray from the track limits and made no other mistakes – that was the key to success today.”

The #92 German squad SSR Herberth also made it into the so-called Superpole on Friday with its ca. 416 kW (565 PS) 911 GT3 R driven by Australian Matt Campbell and the two Frenchmen Mathieu Jaminet and Frédéric Makowiecki.

Mathieu Jaminet (Porsche 911 GT3R #92): “I haven’t sat in the cockpit of a GT3 car for more than a year now. It was also my first-ever qualifying session at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R – which was great fun! I set the third-fastest time in my group. Matt Campbell and Frédéric Makowiecki also put in strong drives, so we qualified for the Superpole. So far, I’m enjoying my GT3 comeback…” Source: Porsche

Five Mercedes-AMG GT3 in top 20

On top of third placed #48 Mercedes AMG Team MANN-FILTER Mercedes-AMG GT3, #2 Mercedes AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Luca Stolz, Jules Gounon and Frank Schiller was 8th. #9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG GT3 was 14th, #77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3, 16th and #777 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3, 20th.