Elite Motorsport’s Tom Lebbon took pole position for the second race of the International GT Open’s Misano sprint meeting.
After his late race-winning move yesterday, the 21-year-old put the #17 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo on the front grid spot as the team seeks a consecutive race victory this afternoon.
It was his second GT Open pole position since the Hungaroring last year, and he is the fourth different pole-sitter so far this year.
“We’re having a really good weekend,” Lebbon said. “The car is obviously in the operating window. It’s hard work, it’s not easy at all. But I think as a team we’re working really well.
“Obviously, with the win yesterday, continuing the momentum into today is really good at being on pole.
“We’ll take it (a good result) as it goes. We have the success penalty from yesterday, but I think we have the pace to end up well.
“Hopefully, I can hold on at the start, and Tom [Emson] can put in a good stint, and we finish up there again.”
Elite’s #17 Ferrari spent the majority of the 25-minute qualifying session at the top.
Lebbon continued to improve on his gap to second position, where Ferrari-contracted driver Tomasco Mosca lingered in his #51 AF Corse Ferrari.
Besides an initial red flag at the start of the session for Adrian Lewandowski’s #6 Ferrari, which spun and briefly stranded at Quercia, qualifying ran uninterrupted.
Lebbon’s fastest lap time of 1:31.304 beat Mosca to pole by 0.323, who set a 1:31.627.
Just as Ferrari locked out the front row, Mercedes-AMG claimed the second row behind them.
Yannick Mettler claimed third in his #54 CBRX by SPS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with a 1:31.681, also taking the Pro-Am class pole position.
He was just ahead of works driver Maximilian Götz’s 1:31.690 in the #71 Team Motopark Mercedes.
Yesterday’s Pro-Am winner, Alexander Fach, qualified fifth overall and second in Pro-Am, after his 1:31.696 time in the #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.
Zac Meakin followed in the #33 Greystone GT McLaren 720S GT3 Evo with his 1:31.769, as the #28 Motopark Mercedes of Dominik Baumann claimed seventh outright (1:31.904).
Fabian Dybionka was in eighth place overall and third in the Pro-Am category for PTT Racing’s #7 BMW M4 GT3 Evo (1:31.957).
2022 European Le Mans Series champion Lorenzo Ferrari looked like he was going to start towards the sharper end of the grid before others improved on their lap times late in the session. He secured ninth position in his #96 AF Corse Ferrari (1:31.965).
Scuderia Villorba Corse’s Rodrigo Testa claimed 10th in the #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (1:32.270).
Axcil Jefferies was 11th outright and fourth in Pro-Am for the #25 Into Africa Racing by Dragon Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (pre-generation) with a 1:32.276.
Charles Fagg followed in 12th and rounded out the top five in Pro-Am for the #81 Norik Racing Ferrari (1:32.284).
Behind Pietro Armanni’s 13th position in the #911 ZRS Motorsport Porsche (1:32.372) was the Am category pole-sitter, Krystian Korzeniowski.
He set a fastest time of 1:32.411 in his #5 Olimp Racing Ferrari, four places ahead of the next Am-class competitor, the #16 AF Corse Ferrari of Galid Osman (1:33.041).
Baron Motorsport’s Lewandowski was third in Am in the #6 Ferrari, starting 19th overall for this afternoon’s race.
This 60-minute affair kicks off at 14:15 CEST to see whether Elite Motorsport can win again, or whether a different team will rise to the spotlight.
Image courtesy of GT Open
