The #7 Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo duo of Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam secured their first British GT pole position of the season – and the team’s first in the championship – at Spa-Francorchamps this afternoon.
Petrobelli stormed to the front in his session, lapping an impressive 0.772 quicker than second-placed #18 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG GT3 of driver Kevin Tse.
Four-time champion Adam then completed the job after the Scotsman went head-to-head with McLaren factory driver Marvin Kirchhöfer, of the #77 Optimum McLaren.
Adam was the third quickest driver in his session against Kirchhöfer’s 2:15.692 outright lap time, but the Blackthorn pairing came out on top (4:33.740) once each of the two drivers’ times were combined.
Optimum Motorsport’s #77 McLaren will start second on the grid owing to a combined lap time of 4:34.029 by Morgan Tillbrook and Kirchhöfer.
The #67 Orange Racing by JMH McLaren set a combined time of 4:34.409 in the hands of Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton, as the #18 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG ended up fourth with a time of 4:34.524 by Kevin Tse and Maximilian Götz.
Barwell’s #1 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 pairing of reigning champion Rob Collard and Hugo Cook took fifth position with their 4:35.021 combined time.
The championship-leading #42 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG claimed sixth owing to a 4:35.379 from Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss.
Alex Martin and Patrick Kujala took seventh in the #78 Barwell Lamborghini with their combined time of 4:35.616.
Optimum’s #3 McLaren duo Matt Topham and Callum Macleod will start eighth with a 4:35.694, followed by the #9 Paddock Motorsport McLaren drivers Mark Smith and Martin Plowman with a 4:36.101.
Team Abba Racing’s #8 Mercedes-AMG rounded out the top 10 with father-son pairing Richard and Sam Neary’s combined time of 4:36.139.
#84 Mahiki Ginetta takes GT4 pole
The #84 Mahiki Racing Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo stormed to pole position in the GT4 category in the British manufacturer’s first racing appearance this season.
Josh Miller showed strong pace behind the wheel, breaking the GT4 qualifying record by a four-second margin with his first lap time, a 2:27.493. That record was set in 2017, and four more lap times in Q1 ended up eclipsing it.
Miller’s benchmark was a substantial 1.314 seconds ahead of the next car, the #17 Optimum Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 of Harry George.
Miller’s teammate, Jack Mitchell, completed the effort so that their combined lap time was a 4:54.627 for pole position.
At 1.724 seconds back in second place, the #71 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 Evo pairing of Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson set a combined time of 4:56.351.
Optimum’s #17 McLaren ended up third with a combined time of 4:56.795 by George and Luca Hopkinson, in front of their sibling #90 McLaren of Marc Warren and reigning champion Jack Brown’s 4:57.326.
Century’s #14 BMW duo of Chris Salkeld and Branden Templeton rounded out the top-five in GT4 with their combined 4.57.864 lap time.
The three-hour race will commence tomorrow, Sunday, 22 June at 12:30 local or 11:30 BST.
Images courtesy of JEP/SRO
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