Leonardo Moncini secured his maiden pole position in the International GT Open series for Scuderia Villorba Corse at Hockenheim today, following a red flag that interrupted the final moments of qualifying.
The #63 Scuderia Villorba Corse Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 topped the 25-car grid after Moncini’s fastest time of 1:37.189, earning both his and the team’s first pole in the championship.
Lorenzo Ferrari got his #96 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo stuck in the gravel trap with little over three minutes remaining on the clock, and the session resumed after its recovery.
“Today, the car was mega,” Moncini said afterwards. “We did an amazing job with the team because we didn’t have a lot of opportunities to test this season.
“I’m mega happy. Now we focus on the race. The championship level here is mega high. Also, we are the only Lambo, so for us it’s more difficult, but we’ll see. We try to stay focused and do our job.
“For me, it’s the first time here with the Lambo. I’ve been here only once three years ago, and now we’ll see the race pace with old tyres. For sure, with new tyres, this package is mega.”
Greystone GT locked out second and third positions with McLaren factory driver Dean Macdonald in the #33 Greystone GT McLaren GT3 Evo having set a lap time of 1:37.553, 0.364 seconds behind Moncini.
McLaren GT3 Junior star McKenzy Cresswell impressed in the team’s #44 McLaren with his time of 1:37.745.
Pietro Armanni was fourth-fastest in his #911 ZRS Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo with a time of 1:37.751, ahead of the championship-leading #17 Elite Motorsport Ferrari of Tom Lebbon (1:37.803) — who occupied provisional pole during the first half of the 20-minute session and had a brief off-track excursion running wide at Turn 12.
Team Motopark’s #71 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo crew, who are second in the championship standings, took sixth owing to Christian Mansell’s 1:37.930.
Dominik Baumann put Motopark’s other #28 Mercedes seventh, after his time of 1:37.999.
Lucas Wolf qualified eighth outright and pole in the Am category in Fach Auto Tech’s #12 Porsche (1:38.104) ahead of the Pro-Am class pole-sitter, Jim Pla.
Pla was the only professional-graded driver participating in the Pro-Am class, setting an unrivalled lap time of 1:38.190 in the #26 Santéloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2.
Ferrari, triggering the red flag in the #96 machine, was 10th (1:38.220), while debuting team Forch Racing, by Atlas Ward, was 11th, second in Am, thanks to Tomasz Magdziarz extracting a 1:38.220 from their #67 Porsche.
Another new team, Doublett Racing, claimed 12th with Leonardo Colavita in the #62 Ferrari (1:38.250), followed by the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Rafael Durán (1:38.404).
Charles Bateman was the next Pro-Am competitor in Blackthorn Racing’s #97 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (1:38.412), 14th outright, ahead of the third-placed Am class #5 Olimp Racing Ferrari of Krystian Korzeniowski (1:38.624).
Behind him was the #75 Team ISR Audi of Libor Milota (1:38.789), third in Pro-Am.
Seweryn Mazur took 17th in his #79 Sendom Racing Mercedes (1:38.820) and fourth in the Am category, followed by Fach Auto Tech’s #11 Porsche of Alexander Schwarzer (1:38.968), who was fourth in Pro-Am.
Am championship leader Adrian Lewandowski rounded out the top five in the class in his #6 Baron Motorsport Ferrari (1:39.127)
The grid is set for the 70-minute sprint race later today at 14:10 CEST.
Image courtesy of GT Sport
