Cam Waters put the #222 Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes on top of the final practice session of the weekend, with a 2:02.35 on his penultimate lap.
“We’re just seeing what we’ve got in the car,” Waters said to the host broadcaster post-session. “I feel like there are a fair few not showing their hand at the moment.
“We obviously want to start at the front of the race, in the clean air with the fast cars. Obviously, pole would be nice, but as long as we’re up the front, and we can get a good start, we’ll be right.”
The morning’s session started in overcast conditions and would determine the placings for Qualifying 1 and 2 later today. The goal? Make it to the top 17 to ensure a spot in Q2 for a clear shot at a good qualifying lap.
It took a while for the pace to really wind up, with the teams still completing race validation runs through the first half of the session. The best time approaching the halfway point was “only” a 2:03.6 from the #911 Absolute Racing Porsche by Matt Campbell.
This included runs from Roman De Angeles in the #27 Heart of Racing by SPS Mercedes and Maxime Martin in the #888 GMR Team Mercedes, who both set purple times (session best) to the second sector, but aborted those laps and came into the pits, hiding their outright pace.
It was at the halfway point that the first shots were fired in anger. Broc Feeney put the #64 Ford Mustang into the 2’s with a 2.9, which would end up being that car’s fastest lap of the session, before Christopher Haase hit the front with a 2:02.28.
Marco Mapelli was the next driver into the 2’s with a 2:02.5768 in the #93 Wall Racing Lamborghini, setting down a marker for the rest of the field to chase with around 20 minutes left.
From then on, it was a battle to get into the top 17, with fast times coming in from everyone up and down the field. At the 20-minute remaining mark, a 2:04.6 was the time to beat to get into the top 17, but that was surely not going to remain for long.
The last 10 minutes were chaos on the timing screen as everyone up and down the field played their hand to try and get into the top 17.
Ryder Quinn in the #101 Q/Team MPC Audi was the big surprise, setting a string of quick laps ending with a 2:02.57 to go only five ten-thousandths slower than Mapelli, before Christopher Haase laid down another marker – a 2:02.51 – to go top.
Raffaele Marciello put the #46 WRT BMW into the 2:02’s with his only fast lap of the session, before Scott Andrews also landed the #44 Geyer Valmont/Tigani Mercedes into the 2:02 to go third.
Waters left his run to the penultimate lap of the session to eclipse the whole field, with attention quickly turning to 17th place to see who could make the cut-off. Kai Allen was outside the top 17 at the chequered flag in the #100 Grove Mercedes, but put in a 2:02.8 to end up in eighth place, knocking out the #47 Supabarn/Tigani Mercedes of David Russell.
Allen’s time put him just behind the #89 Team KRC BMW of Hesse, while Luca Stolz in the 75 Express Mercedes and Feeney’s early benchmark in the #64 HRT Ford Mustang were the other lap times in the 2:02s.
The #6 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes, the #32 WRT BMW, the #9 Hallmarc Audi, the #79 Tsunami RT Porsche, the #911 Absolute Racing Porsche and the #95 Optimum McLaren were the other cars to make the top 17, with Kirchhoefer’s cut-off time a 2:03.39.
Outside the top 17 were a number of big-name Pro-Class cars; Lucas Auer couldn’t get the #77 Craft Bamboo Mercedes into the top half, finishing with a 2:03.9 to go 26th, while the #2 Johor Motorsports Racing JMR Corvette at the hands of Earl Bamber only hit 23rd.
Jaxon Evans was the highest-placed Pro car to miss the cut; the #26 Arise Racing GT Ferrari driver was 20th after problems in Practice 5 earlier today limited their running. Also missing the cut was the #888 Team GMR Mercedes, with Martin’s early mark of a 2:03.9 the best that car could run.
Most cars had trouble-free sessions, the #27 Heart of Racing by SPS Mercedes only completed 5 laps and spent the last 40 minutes in the pits. At this stage, there’s no news as to why. The #61 EBM Porsche also suffered a delay, with a software update to the pit timer resulting in a complete failure of the dashboard of the car, requiring 13 minutes to reset.
Despite having to go through Qualifying 1, if these cars set a time good enough for the top 10, they will progress to the Pirelli Pole Shootout later today. Of course, they will have to do so while weaving through the Invitational and GT4 cars.
Image courtesy of IGTC
