With the winter break in the rear-view mirror, the 2018 International GT Open season began with 30 minutes of qualifying at Estoril today, Luzich Racing’s Ferrari claiming its debut pole position in the series after a sterling performance from Dane Mikkel Mac.
In the early stages of the session, Mac (#51 Luzich Ferrari) and Tom Onslow-Cole (#20 SPS Automotive Mercedes) setting the pace and edging towards low 1:37’s early on.
However, with 13 minutes of the session in the books, 19-year-old Dutchman Rik Breukers (#25 Imperiale Lamborghini) showed his hand with a 1:36.968 to go top. A few minutes later, a familiar face in GT racing also came within touching distance of provisional pole too – Jamie Campbell-Walter crossed the line for a 1:36.983, going second on the timing sheets in the #62 Drivex School Mercedes.
That prompted Mikkel Mac to start to show some of the single-lap ability that served him so well in 2017, setting a benchmark time of 1:36.611, before following it up with a 1:36.206; this would be enough to score pole for the Luzich Racing outfit for the opening race of the season later today.
Reigning champion Giovanni Venturini improved to a 1:36.530 late in the session, placing his #63 Imperiale Lamborghini on the front row despite a gap of over three tenths between himself and Mac.
Early pace-setter Onslow-Cole eventually improved to a 1:36.755 in the #20 SPS Mercedes, putting he and Valentin Pierburg third overall, and on pole in the PROAM category.
Rik Breukers also improved slightly in the closing stages, with a 1:36.825 proving to be good enough for fourth on the grid.
18 years on from taking victory, albeit without getting a chance to drive, in a rain-effected FIA GT Championship race at Estoril in 2000, Campbell-Walter will line up fifth this afternoon in the #62 Drivex Mercedes, which he will share with protégé Ferdinand Habsburg.
Interestingly, the current breed of GT3 cars are quicker than the Lister Storm he so famously drove in the FIA GT days – on the championship’s final visit in 2003, a 1:38.665 was the best his spectacular V12 GT1 car could muster in qualifying.
Fran Rueda rounded out the top six in the #47 Teo Martin BMW, with a time of 1:37.054, while the #99 Sports & You Mercedes duo of António Coimbra and Luis Silva will start their AM title defence from class pole and 16th on the grid.
This afternoon’s International GT Open race will begin at 15:15 local time.
Featured image courtesy of GT Open
