Greystone’s Dean Macdonald claimed pole position for the final race of the 2026 International GT Open season aboard the team’s #33 McLaren GT3 Evo.
The Scotsman extracted a lap time of 1:39.124 to emerge fastest in the 25-minute qualifying session, beating ZRS Motorsport’s #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo driver Alex Fontana by a marginal 0.050 seconds.
It was Macdonald’s third pole position of the year, joining the #17 Elite Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo and #71 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo crews with three poles each.
In taking the top spot, Macdonald has given his teammate Zac Meakin the upper hand in the championship fight heading into the 60-minute sprint race.
The #33 Greystone McLaren qualified six positions ahead of the #17 Elite Ferrari of Tom Emson — who must finish in the top four with his teammate Tom Lebbon to win the title.
“We treat today like any other day, like it’s round one,” Macdonald told the broadcast after the session.
“You know, we try to be as fast as we can in qualifying. The objective is to be on pole. We’ve done that, but we’ve got the race to go, and the only objective for that is to try and win the race, and whatever happens, happens.
“So nothing changes from our side. We try to do the best job possible today, and yeah, we’ll see how lucky we are at the end of it.”
One brief red flag interrupted the session with 16 minutes remaining when Alfredo Hernandez spun his #77 Grupo Prom Racing Mercedes into the gravel trap at Turn 2, almost collecting Fontana, who braked just in time to avoid getting collected.
Behind Fontana’s 1:39.174 lap time, yesterday’s race winner Maximilian Götz was third-fastest in his #71 Motopark Mercedes with a time of 1:39.409.
His #28 Motopark Mercedes teammate Dominik Baumann took fourth with a 1:39.466, having set the fastest race lap yesterday and seeking redemption after his racing incident with Dexter Müller (#54 CBRX by SPS Mercedes – not participating in qualifying today).
James Kell put in a late stormer to claim Pro-Am pole in the #88 Track Focused McLaren and scored the team’s best qualifying performance this year, fifth outright on a 1:39.539 lap.
He denied Pro-Am pole to former GT Open champion Henrique Chaves (1:39.801) in the #97 Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo, whose teammate Charles Bateman leads the Pro-Am championship standings on 96 points.
Emson put his #17 Elite Ferrari in seventh place after a lap time of 1:39.908, followed next by Ferrari-contracted driver Tommaso Mosca’s #51 AF Corse Ferrari (1:39.923).
Charlie Fagg finished ninth outright and third in Pro-Am in the pre-generation #81 Norik Racing Ferrari 296 (1:40.111).
Cesar Gazeau claimed 10th in the #99 Motopark Mercedes (1:40.151) ahead of Karol Basz’s #777 Olimp Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 (1:40.202), which took fourth in Pro-Am.
McLaren Trophy Europe champion Callum Davies put the #44 Greystone McLaren 12th (1:40.243) ahead of former LMP1 racer Oli Webb in the #24 Greystone McLaren (1:40.324).
Leonardo Colavita put the #62 Double TT Racing Ferrari 14th overall (1:40.570) ahead of Ben Dörr’s #770 SMC McLaren (1:40.780), who stopped in the middle of the pit lane at the beginning of the session before continuing.
Ford Koch was 16th (1:40.901) in his first-ever GT Open qualifying outing with the #23 Optimum McLaren team, as the Am pole-sitter Thomas Kiefer (1:41.023) was next in the #12 Fach Auto Tech Porsche — whose teammate Joel Monegro leads the class standings.
Team ISR’s #75 Audi of Filip Salaquarda was 18th (1:41.279), ahead of Yaroslav Vesalaho’s #96 AF Corse Ferrari (1:41.361) and Leonardo Moncini’s #63 Scuderia Villorba Corse Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (1:41.398).
Galid Osman was next in the order in 21st overall, second in Am, in his #16 AF Corse Ferrari, which set a 1:41.437.
Fabian Dybionka’s #7 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO (1:41.490) was ahead of third in Am, Krystian Korzeniowski’s #5 Olimp Racing Ferrari (1:41.506).
The #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche driver, Alexander Fach, trails six points behind his Pro-Am standings leader, Bateman, starting down in 26th overall/eighth in Pro-Am after Alexander Schwarzer’s 1:41.827
The final race of the 2026 season, later today at 13:30 CET, will decide our champions once and for all.
