Alexander Fach secured his first International GT Open pole position at the Hungaroring, narrowly beating our most recent race winners, Elite Motorsport, by just 0.018 seconds.
The 24-year-old put his #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo at the top both outright and in the Pro-Am category for the first of two sprint races this weekend.
As the current Pro-Am championship leader, he set his best lap time during the final moments of the 25-minute session, positioning his car just ahead of all four race winners so far this season.
“I was already quite strong on the first set (of tyres),” Fach said after the session. “I had some track limits [warnings], so I knew I could go faster on the second set, but yeah, I didn’t want to do it in the last lap.
“I saw the time remaining on the start-finish, and I knew it’s gonna be this lap and then it’s done. I put it together and was happy to reward the guys with a pole because they did an amazing job.
“I think everybody has already seen it (the #11’s pace) the whole season. We came into this championship and from the first race on we were on pace.
“So now, also to show it in qualifying finally, it’s nice for the team, and they did, as always, an amazing job.”
Tom Lebbon almost repeated his Race 1 pole position effort from 12 months ago at the Hungaroring, before Fach denied Elite Motorsport’s #17 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo to the top spot.
Fach’s lap time of 1:42.119 put him ahead of Lebbon’s 1:42.137, whilst Alex Fontana took third in the #911 ZRS Motorsport Porsche with a 1:42.234.
Dean Macdonald secured third for Greystone GT’s #33 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo with a 1:42.256 and Maximilian Götz was fourth in the #71 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (1:42.480).
In sixth position overall was the next Pro-Am car, the #26 Saintéloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2, in the hands of Jim Pla and his 1:42.783 lap time.
Right behind him was Vincent Abril’s #55 AF Corse Ferrari (1:42.842).
In eighth place overall and pole in the Am class, Krystian Korzeniowski drove an impressive 1:42.870 time from his #5 Olimp Racing Ferrari.
Libor Milota claimed ninth overall in the Pro-Am-entered #75 Team ISR Audi with his effort of 1:43.032.
Marco Bonanomi was in 10th place for the #107 AF Corse Ferrari, second in the Am category, after posting a time of 1:43.231.
Scuderia Villorba Corse struggled in this session, with Rodrigo Testa only managing 11th overall and a 1:43.253 lap time from his #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.
Aston Martin Racing junior driver and GT Open debutant Kobe Pauwels rounded out the top five in Pro-Am, claiming 12th overall in the #97 Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (1:43.370).
Situated 15th in the order, Adrian Lewandowski was third in Am in his #6 Baron Motorsport Ferrari (pre-generation), setting a 1:43.523.
Fourth and fifth in Am were behind him, with Tomasz Magdziarz’s #14 Good Speed Aston Martin (1:43.648) followed by Am championship leader Joel Monegro’s #12 Fach Auto Tech Porsche (1:43.745).
The opening 70-minute race commences later today at 14:35 CEST/local time.
Image courtesy of GT Open
