A stunning lap of 1:36.908 – the quickest this weekend – put the #88 Reiter Engineering Gallardo of Nick Catsburg on pole position for the Qualifying Race at Moscow Raceway later today. It’s the first pole position for the German team this season.
Catsburg showed off his superior pace in the Gallardo at the end of Q2 when he set a 1:36.976 to head the field. The Dutchman – who competed at the Russian circuit recently in the WTCC – then continued his form into the pole-position shootout by bettering his former time. It was a good enough lap to prevent the rapid #6 Phoenix Racing Audi of Marcus Winkelhock taking the top spot.
“We’re finally P1, it’s a very nice moment for us. We anticipated the circuit would suit us, as we can maximise our traction. We just did everything right for once and surprised ourselves,” said Catsburg’s teammate Albert von Thurn und Taxis after the session.
Winkelhock’s 1:37.028 secured Phoenix second on the gird, with the #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari a further tenth back after Norbert Siedler’s best time.
Any hopes of a final charge to pole position for the two Germans was unfortunately cut short after Kevin Estre had an off at the end of the session in the #55 Attempto Racing McLaren 650s. The Frenchman, who looked ragged for much of the shootout – lost control of the car on the entrance to Turn 9, backing into the tyre barriers and bringing out red flags. It was a very light impact however, so the team should be able to get the car prepared in time to take up its fourth spot on the grid in the first race.
It was a disappointing qualifying session for the WRT squad. Three of its four R8s made it through to the shootout, but didn’t have the outright pace to challenge for pole. Laurens Vanthoor steered the #1 car to fifth, Christopher Mies put the #2 sixth and Stéphane Ortelli could only manage ninth in the #3. It’s going to be a tough job for the team to continue its dominant form in the races later today.
Aside from Estre’s small error, all three sessions were clean so all 18 runners are due to start the Qualifying Race which gets underway at 13:00 local time.
Stephen Kilbey
