Thomas Neubauer bounced back from disappointment in last night’s opening Sprint Cup race at Misano by securing another pole position in his #15 Tech 1 Lexus.
The Frenchman started Saturday’s run from overall pole and led the opening stint, only for a technical issue to sideline the Silver Cup class car shortly after teammate Aurelien Panis took the wheel.
This required the Tech 1 crew to make changes overnight, but it did nothing to diminish Neubauer’s speed. The #15 Lexus went top early in the session and, while there were other challengers, was not beaten thereafter.
Tommaso Mosca came closest to his pole time of 1m31.893s, lapping just 0.039s shy in the #55 Attempto Racing Audi. Another pair of R8 LMS drivers were next, with Arthur Rougier (#25 Sainteloc Racing) and Charles Weerts (#32 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT) completing the top four. The Emil Frey Racing Lamborghinis also showed well, with Giacomo Altoe and Mikael Grenier taking fifth and sixth respectively.
Neubauer will start this afternoon’s race 3 with a 10-place advantage over his nearest Silver Cup contender, with Steven Palette qualifying the #26 Sainteloc Audi 11th overall and P2 in class. Pro-Am pole was also a repeat of qualifying 1, with Louis Machiels taking top spot in the #52 AF Corse Ferrari.
