WTM Racing has secured its first outright pole position in the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook for this weekend’s Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS after a dominating run in qualifying.
The WTM Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 (#22, Georg Weiss / Leonard Weiss / Jochen Krumbach / Daniel Keilwitz) was quickest around the 7.004km Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in all three 15-minute qualifying sessions, with Daniel Keilwitz setting the quickest lap time of all – a 2m 18.878s – during the final stint. Scintillating pace from the German team meant their average lap time, by which the grid for tomorrow’s 12-hour race has been set, was just over two seconds quicker than its nearest rival.
“This is amazing!” a jubilant Leonard Weiss explained to radiolemans.com’s Joe Bradley. “This is my first pole position, here at Spa-Francorchamps, and I’m very happy. Daniel [Keilwitz], and of course the whole team, did an amazing job today. My own run was quite difficult: when I drove out of the pits, there was a lot of traffic, but when I finally found a gap in the last run, I pushed as hard as I could on the last lap, and fortunately it worked out. There’s going to be a little celebration this evening!
“There’s still a long way to go, but we’ll try our best, and hopefully we can keep this pace up during the race.”
A close fight for the final spot on the front row between the BoDa by Bas Koeten Racing Bentley Continental GT3 (#6, Bob Herber / Mark van der Aa) and the CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#85, Charles Putman / Charles Espenlaub / Shane Lewis) eventually went to the Bentley, with a strong final run from Mark van der Aa enough to keep CP’s Charles Espenlaub at bay. Like WTM, the result marks the first time Bas Koeten Racing, and a Bentley, will start a 24H SERIES race from the overall front row in the GT division.
A fast lap in the closing moments saw the Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (#91, Daniel Allemann / Ralf Bohn / Jürgen Häring) leapfrog its way to 4th on the grid, a little under two-tenths behind GT3-PRO/AM polesitter CP Racing. The top three qualifiers in GT3-AM will thus start from inside the
overall top four.
The Porsche 911 GT3 R of ‘GT3’ class polesitter EBM (#61, Adrian D’Silva / Tanart Sathienthirakul / Jeffrey Kingsley) will line up 5th overall for tomorrow’s race start, and will share the third row with the Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#34, Johannes Dr. Kirchhoff / Max Edelhoff / Tim Müller).
Audis monopolize the lower half of the overall top 10, with JUTA Racing’s EVO I (#71, Julius Adomavičius / Andrius Gelžinis / Jonas Gelžinis) lining up 7th overall just ahead of Hankook 12H MUGELLO runner-up, Phoenix Racing (#18, Michael Doppelmayr / Pierre Kaffer / Elia Erhart / Patryk Krupinski) and SAINTéLOC Racing (#26, Olivier Esteves / Pierre-Yves Paque / Christian Kelders / Simon Gachet). The latter two will compete with EVO II examples of the R8 LMS.
European 992 standings leader Red Ant Racing (#903, Ayrton Redant / Bert Redant / Yannick Redant) enjoyed a good start to its weekend with the fastest time of any Porsche 992 GT3 Cup runner, and the 10th fastest time overall. The sister #904 entry (Philippe Wils / Kurt Hensen) will start 3rd in-class and 14th overall, just one place behind 992-AM’s second fastest runner, HRT Performance (#929, Antti Buri / Kari-Pekka Laaksonen / Jim Rautiainen).
Despite suffering transponder issues shortly before the start of Q3, Van Berlo Motorsport by Bas Koeten Racing (#906, Marcel van Berlo / Bart van Helden / Glenn van Berlo) was able to fend off category rival, and series newcomer, E2P Racing (#910, Pablo Burguera / Manuel Cintrano / Ben Clucas) for 991-class pole position with its Porsche 911-II Cup.
In GTX, the returning Leipert Motorsport (#710, Kerong Li / Jean-Francois Brunot / Tyler Cooke) bested RD Signs – Siauliai racing team (#720, Audrius Butkevicius / Nicola Michelon / Paulius Paskevicius) on average by just half a second to take category pole position. Both teams have registered a Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo for this weekend. Despite spinning during the closing moments of Q3, Vortex V8 (#701, Lionel Amrouche / Philippe Bonnel / Sebastien Lajoux) rounds out the top three in GTX qualifying at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
On its first 24H SERIES start since 2018, the ALFAB Racing McLaren 570S GT4 (#400, Erik Behrens / Daniel Ros) secured GT4-class pole position ahead of series newcomer Buggyra ZM Racing (#416, Aliyyah Koloc / Yasmeen Koloc / Adam Lacko). The Emirati team’s Mercedes-AMG GT4 meanwhile will line-up ahead of the Veidec Racing by JJ Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 (#422, Hakan Sari / Recep Sari / Arthur Peters).
BBR takes second consecutive TCE pole
BBR continued its impressive run of form in the 2022 24H SERIES powered by Hankook by taking its second consecutive outright TCE pole position at the Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS.
The BBR CUPRA Leon Competición TCR (#159, Chariya Nuya / Kantadhee Kusiri / Kantasak Kusiri / Munkong Sathienthirakul) was the fastest TCE entrant across all three 15-minute qualifying sessions, cumulatively posting an average time of 2m 34.005s around the 7.004km Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, just over a second quicker than its division rivals.
“First I have to say thank you to the whole team. The car was perfect,” Kantadhee Kusiri explained to radiolemans.com’s Joe Bradley. “We were also quite lucky because we had a clear lap – the traffic can be really bad – so that helped us post a perfect lap. Tomorrow, we need to stay smooth, not push too hard, and keep the car on-track, but this is a good start.”
While the Holmgaard Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR DSG (#102, Magnus Holmgaard / Jonas Holmgaard / Roy Edland / Martin Vedel Mortensen) was the second fastest TCE runner during Q1 and Q2, a late surge from Valluga (#205, Bradley Ellis / Leonidas Loucas / Rhea Loucas / Charles Hollings) during the final session was enough to seal the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS TCX class pole and a front row spot on the TCE grid. A difficult final run for Holmgaard Motorsport meanwhile saw the Danish team drop from 2nd to 6th in the closing moments.
Having ended Free Practice in the gravel trap at the Bus Stop Chicane, the AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS DSG (#188, Stephane Perrin / Mathieu Detry / Yannick Mettler) recovered well to qualify 3rd overall. The Belgian team will share the second row of the grid with long-time rival, and reigning Overall TCE Teams’ champion, Wolf-Power Racing (#116, Jasmin Preisig / Fabian Danz / Marcus Menden), while the Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR SEQ of Hankook 12H MUGELLO runner-up NOKER racing team rounds out the top five on the TCE grid.
Behind the PR-V Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (#225, Hervé Houdré / Christian Gloz), the average times of Spain’s Baporo Motorsport (#151, Joan Vinyes / Jaume Font) and RAIL EQUIP BY TOTCAR SPORT (#123, Jorge Belloc Diaz / Jorge Belloc Ruiz / Álvaro Rodríguez Sastre) were split by less than two-tenths of the second. The CUPRA TCRs will line-up 8th and 9th in TCE ahead of Belgium’s Xwift Racing (#221, Pieter Denys / Tim de Borle / Steven Dewulf), the latter’s Ligier JS2 R also rounding out the division’s top 10.
