Qualifying 1.
Marco Seefried was the early pace-setter in the first qualifying session. His Rinaldi Racing Porsche is back in the series this round after skipping Jerez, and the German was able to stay three tenths clear of his GTS rivals Chris van der Drift and Giorgio Pantano in the Bhai Tech McLarens. “The high-speed corners definitely suit us – it’s just a case of getting the car to work in the heat,” said van Der Drift before the session.
Seefried remained at the top of the timesheets when the GTS cars yielded to the Super GT runners for the second half of the first session, and only the top three Super GT runners would eclipse his time. Andrea Montermini was quick out of the box in the Villorba Corse Ferrari, and his best time of 2:01.269 was good enough to take pole for this afternoon’s 70-minute race, just ahead of the two V8 Racing Corvettes of Miguel Ramos and Diederik Sijthoff. Ramos’ co-driver Pastorelli seemed relaxed and confident: “P2 and P3 is very nice,” he declared, “we’re suffering a little in the tighter sections, but the long straights, fast corners and high temperatures here this weekend are all good for us.”
Michael Lyons went P4 in GTS and P7 overall in his AF Corse Ferrari and seemed confident of a strong run. “I think we’re the strongest here that we’ve been all season,” he commented. “It’s shaping up to be a good race, as you can actually overtake around here!” Roman Mavlanov (Russian Bears Ferrari) and Isaac Tutumlu (Autorlando Sport Porsche) line up eighth and ninth overall, while Alvaro Barba will be looking to continue his British winning streak after triumphing at last weekend’s Aston Martin GT Centenary race at Brands Hatch – he qualified tenth in the first of the two Ombra Racing Ferraris.
A yellow flag came out early in the session after Mike Simpson had a scary moment at Becketts when his G55’s wheel failed at high speed. The Ginetta Cars commercial manager is sharing a one-off entry with marque boss Lawrence Tomlinson this weekend. “It’s Lawrence’s first race of the season – we’re just doing it for a bit of fun, really,” he said. “We wanted to do something away from the usual British championships, and the level here is really good.” The damage was repaired in time for Tomlinson to take to the track in the second session – the duo will line up 11th and 22nd overall respectively in Saturday and Sunday’s races.
Qualifying 2.
As Marco Seefried demonstrated Porsche’s pace in the first session, so did Jeroen Bleekemolen in the second – the Dutchman took GTS class pole by over a second in the Autorlando Sport car he shares with Emilio di Guida. “That was a really great lap,” he beamed. “We had some issues in practice so we didn’t really know what to expect, but the car is perfect right now. Although, we know the Porsche can be hard on its tyres so we have to be aware of that for the race.”
The closest challenger to Porsche for most of the session was once again a Bhai Tech McLaren – this time the #66 machine of Luis Razia. But Peter Kox, at the wheel of the Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini (another new entry at this round), put in a late charge to go second in class; “It was the maximum I could do, but still one second off – no chance!” he Tweeted succinctly afterwards. Fourth-place GTS qualifier Jan Magnussen expressed similar sentiments, while Jerez race winner Renger van der Zande split the Kessel Ferraris to put the Seyffarth Mercedes fifth, ahead of Nicola de Marco.
Super GT qualifying was a lot less clear-cut than GTS this time out, with Luca Filippi and Matt Griffin trading fastest times as the clock wound down. The Italian eventually shaded the Irishman by just three hundredths of a second as the flag fell. “I was just trying to get the tyres at the right moment,” recalled Griffin, “but I think I went a bit too hard early on.” Over at Villorba Corse, Filippi was happy with pole as always, but also eager to share his frustration at the 45-second pit handicap he and Montermini have had to endure at the last few races.
“We can’t complain too much, and I think it’s a fair system,” said the former GP2 ace, “but I think it worked better when there more competitive Super GT-class cars in previous seasons. In order to lose the handicap we have to finish outside the top three in our class, which is pretty unlikely unless we have a problem. As I said, we can’t complain too much, but it’s important for the guys in the team to get wins.”
Stephen Errity (@83ste)
