Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon will start tomorrow’s Gulf 12 Hours from first position. Jeroen Bleekemolen, Bernd Schneider and Khaled Al Qubaisi were second fastest on average, but the Kessel Racing Ferrari of Giacomo Piccini and Thomas Kemenater that had the fastest average lap time after four qualifying session is expected to get a penalty as third driver Kola Aluko was a no-show and the team therefore didn’t meet the two-driver minimum.
In the first of four qualifying sessions it was Daniel Zampieri who set the fastest time in the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3. Halfway through the session it was Matteo Bobbi who had been the quickest driver, but soon after Steven Kane put the Bentley Continental GT3 on provisional pole position. Blancpain Endurance Series racer Daniel Zampieri managed to beat Kane’s time though and was the only driver in Q1 to make it into the 2:10s.
The Kessel Racing Ferrari’s were on top again early in session two, although the fastest times set by Thomas Kemenater and Filip Salaquarda were still far off the fastest time set by Daniel Zampieri. Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon driver Jeroen Bleekemolen was able to go fast and on his first flying lap he put in a 2:10.736. Bleekemolen’s next attempt ended early when he got stuck behind a pair of GT4 cars and on his final flying lap he stopped the clock just 0.016s shy of his fastest time. Andreas Simonsen finished the session in second place, almost half a second behind his teammate. The Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 of Guglielmo Belotti came to a halt – resulting in Ivan Bellarosa not being able to take part in Q3.
Lap times were immediately into the 2:11s in Q3 and it was the #15 Slamstop Motorsport (by Kessel Racing) Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Alessandro Pier Guidi that set the first fastest lap of the session, nine tenths slower than Bleekemolen had done in Q2. Kessel Racing’s Giacomo Piccini soon bettered Pier Guidi’s time, but a lap later the Pro GT by Almeras Porsche of Franck Perera. Piccini had none of that though and 18 seconds after Perera had set the fastest time the Italian went quicker and posted a faster lap time. On his final lap, after the finish flag had been shown Piccini went even faster, beating Bleekemolen’s time by just 0.007s. Q4 had no GT3 and CN’s in it, just Matteo Cressoni lapping the track in his Ginetta.
After all four sessions had been completed it was the Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 that had set an average lap time of 2:11.082, therefore beating the Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 by almost three tenths of a second. However, with Kola Aluko not taking part in qualifying a penalty is set to be given to the Swiss team and that will result in the Black Falcon squad of Bleekemolen, Schneider and Al Qubaisi taking pole position for the Gulf 12 Hours tomorrow.
Despite the results page not being entirely clear the average lap time of the Optimum Motorsport Ginetta of Lee Mowle, Joe Osborne and Ryan Ratcliffe. In CN the #94 Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 was fastest – but they also ran just two drivers as the car stopped on track during Q2 and was towed back to the paddock.
Marcel ten Caat (@dsceuroeditor)
