The qualifying session saw a wet track and a real fight between two cars : the #88 Porsche 911 GT3 R Mentos Racing of Egidio Perfetti (shared in the race tonight with Klaus Bachler) and the #34 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Salih Yoluc (shared in the race with Euan Hankey).
Yoluc in the #34 ended up being the fastest of the first session with a lap in 1 :54.205 lap. Perfetti in the #88 was second fastest, almost half a second behind the Turk.
Hiroshi Hamaguchi in the FFF Racing McLaren #55 went off track more than once in treacherous conditions but fortunately without any significant damage to the 650S GT3.
The quick fire Super Pole session followed immediately, conditions worsening dramatically.
The #71 Ferrari car went off on the start/finish straight, Barreiros spinning and JUST missing the barriers to the inside at T1.
In the end, the pole went to Egidio Perfetti in the #88 Mentos Porsche 911 GT3 R #88 with a fastest lap of 1’56’788:
“It was quite challenging out there. The first part of the qualifying session went well. It got tricky during the Super Pole […] I was losing the car at times. It is overall a great result for the team. The work we did yesterday paid off. It is true, our Porsche likes wet conditions but I hope it won’t be too wet this afternoon. It will be a real endurance race if it rains like this.” It is Perfetti’s second pole this season.
Hiroshi Hamaguchi in the FFF Racing Team McLaren #55 ended the session second fastest, two full seconds behind Perfetti as the track became frankly undriveable, and ahead of championship leader Alexey Basov in the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari 488 GT3.
FF Corse Ferrari F488 #25, Villorba Corse Ferrari F458 #8 and Ferrari AF Corse #14 did not meet the minimum qualifying time requirements but with the prevailing weather conditions effectively not permitting any kind of attack these cars will be allowed to race this evening.
