Franck Perera and GRT Grasser Racing Team have taken pole position for the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Spa.
Since GRT – Grasser Racing Team were fastest in yesterday’s qualifying session, Perera was the final of the 20 drivers to run in Superpole aboard his #163 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2.
Perera was 0.100 down on Lucas Auer (#48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo) after the first two sectors, but clawed it back in Sector 3 to set a 2:13.718 and take pole position by just 36 thousandths of a second on the partially-resurfaced Spa circuit.
Both Perera and Auer went below the previous outright pole position record, a 2:13.912 set by Pedro Lamy aboard a GT1 Saleen in 2008. Almost the entire field was over a second quicker than Raffaele Marciello’s GT3-era pole position record, the new surface clearly a factor here.
After the session, Perera told the media “I feel amazing. It’s emotional to reach this pace in qualifying…It’s nice to be able, and to be lucky to fight for superpole.”
And when informed he had broken Lamy’s record by DSC, Perera followed up with: “It’s great – when we arrived on Tuesday, with the new asphalt, it was a bit strange, because it was totally different in so many corners… Spa is the best track in the world; you can really feel the speed, especially in the GT car, they’re getting better and better.”
Alessio Rovera qualified third for AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors in the #51 Ferrari 296 GT3, and was the final driver to go below the 2:14 mark.
Lorenzo Patrese, who was the third driver to run, spent the majority of the session at the top of the times with his #88 Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, after an incredible Sector 1 time that was never beaten.
Patrese’s fourth place was also good enough for pole position in the Gold Cup, exactly two-tenths quicker than the fellow Audi of Gilles Magnus (#25 Sainteloc Racing), who qualified second in class and seventh overall.
Jules Gounon (#2 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo) made it five different manufacturers in the top five, ahead of the quickest individual driver in yesterday’s qualifying Vincent Abril (#71 Ferrari 296 GT3), who only managed sixth.
Mathieu Jaminet (#92 SSR Herberth) was the leading Porsche 911 GT3.R (992) in eighth overall, whilst Mattia Drudi (#7 Comtoyou Racing) put the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo eleventh on the grid for its 24 Hours of Spa debut.
Garage 59 was already guaranteed Bronze Cup pole position as the only team from the class to progress to Super Pole, and Marvin Kirchhöfer did enough to qualify 12th.
The final car within a second of pole position was 15th-placed Mikael Grenier, who was the first to make a Super Pole run in his #777 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed AMG GT3 Evo.
BMW’s quest for a record-extending 26th win will start from the ninth row of the grid, with Max Hesse the quicker of the pair of Rowe Racing M4 GT3s in 17th.
The 2024 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps begins at 16:30 Local on Saturday 29th June, but before then teams have Friday evening’s Warm-Up session to make their final preparations for GT World Challenge Europe’s blue-riband event.
Featured image courtesy of SRO
