Valentino Rossi claimed his first-ever GT World Challenge pole position this afternoon on home soil at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
The 47-year-old Italian will lead the field away from the front in the first Sprint Cup race of the weekend tonight, after setting a 1:32.154 in the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo he shares with Max Hesse during Group A qualifying.
Due to the format, he was forced to wait at the front of the WRT garage with the broadcast streamed on his phone until the Group B runners finished their session to have it confirmed. And while Andrea Frassineti came close for Tresor Attempto Racing in the #66 Silver Cup Audi R8, with a 1:32.253, his best lap was enough for class pole, but not enough to dethrone the MotoGP legend from the overall top spot.
“It’s the first pole for me, and Misano is always magic,” said Rossi, who last took pole at Misano back in 2009, in MotoGP. “I’ve won the last three years, but never started from pole. We’ve worked hard during the weekend to put on the pressure. The team and car work very well. It’s very important in Sprint Cup, we wait for the race tonight.
“I’m always happy to race here, with so many people. I am thankful for the support; it’s a pleasure to have this atmosphere.”
Frassineti’s lap on the tricky 4.2-km circuit was particularly impressive to put the #66 Audi on the front row, as the Group B session was red-flagged before anyone was able to set a time for a strange incident between two Ferraris. Dennis Marschall, on his outlap, came together with the #71 AF Corse Ferrari of Felix Hirsiger, when he turned into the side of the Swiss driver, sending him off track and into the gravel.
It ramped up the pressure on the drivers in the second stage of qualifying, as they were left with just five minutes on the clock to post their best times. Marschall, who managed to reverse out of the gravel and rejoin the session later on, recovered well and put the #74 Kessel machine 13th overall.
The second row on the grid will be occupied by Lionspeed GP’s #80 Porsche and the #32 WRT BMW. Ricardo Feller set the best time for the Spa 24-winning Porsche team to go third, a 1:32.295, which added another strong Qualifying performance to the team’s Sprint Cup campaign, after it took pole for both races at Brands Hatch back in May.
“I’m very happy, the car felt so good on the lap I got. It gave us a good starting position, hopefully we can end the day standing on the podium, I’m really looking forward to the race,” Feller told DSC.
Weerts, meanwhile, was quick throughout the first session and briefly sat on provisional pole. But as the late flurry of times came in, he was unable to hold on, missing out on a front row spot by less than a tenth.
“I made a mistake in the last sector, which cost a better result, but I’m happy, and Vale did a great job,” the Belgian admitted.
Winward Racing’s #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO will start the race fifth, alongside another AMG, the #12 GetSpeed Team Dubal example, which claimed Bronze Cup pole with a 1:32.440 from Fabian Schiller.
The top two in Gold Cup took ninth and 10th behind another pair of AMGs, the #3 from Verstappen Racing and Winward’s #87 Bronze Cup machine, driven by Marvin Dienst.
Dylan Pereira took Gold class pole in the #99 Tresor Attempto Audi, with a lap just 0.019 faster than Tommaso Mosca in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari.
It was extremely tight across both sessions, with the top 25 in the combined rankings setting times within a second of pole. The only car which failed to set a time was the #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, which will start last.
The first race of the Misano weekend is set to get underway tonight at 20:30 local time in Italy, when WRT will look to add to its incredible record at Misano of 14 wins in the past decade.
Rossi is also chasing more headlines this weekend, hoping to extend his winning run in GT World Challenge Europe at the circuit after claiming a victory in each of the last three seasons.
Image courtesy of SRO/JEP
