Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER has taken pole position for the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season opener at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Lucas Auer, Matteo Cairoli and Maro Engel controlled qualifying throughout in its #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, setting an average lap time of 1:53.712. After Auer and Cairoli led the opening two sessions, the team already had a 0.345-second margin over their closest challengers, with Engel’s 1:53.551 in Q3 more than enough to hold on for pole position.
“I have to say it was not an easy session,” admitted Cairoli, who was in the car as rain briefly started falling near the end of Q2.
“There were some drops [of rain] coming, so I didn’t know what to expect, especially in Signes, I started to have quite a lot of water on my windscreen. I was a bit conservative, but it was enough to be at the top”.
It’s the first pole position for Mercedes-AMG in the Endurance Cup since the 2023 Nürburgring round, and, remarkably, the first ever for Auer.
Luca Stolz, Jules Gounon and Fabian Schiller completed a Mercedes-AMG front row lockout aboard the #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed AMG GT3 Evo, with an average time of 1:53.835.
The #63 GRT – Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 of Mirko Bortolotti, Luca Engstler and Jordan Pepper qualified third, ahead of the #59 Garage 59 McLaren GT3 Evo.
Klaus Bachler set the fastest individual lap in qualifying, with his 1:53.091 in Q3 good enough to vault the Pre-Qualifying-topping #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3.R (992) into the top five on the grid. Rutronik Racing’s #96 Porsche ended up sixth, ahead of the #163 VSR Lamborghini.
Garage 59 took pole position in the Gold Cup, with the #58 of Dean MacDonald, Louis Prette and Adam Smalley qualifying eighth overall. The #32 Team WRT BMW and #111 CSA Racing McLaren rounded out the Top 10.
Several Pro teams struggled in qualifying, with the #64 HRT Ford Performance Mustang GT3 ending up 28th, the #911 Pure Rxcing Porsche qualifying 35th, and the Mercedes-AMGs of Boutsen VDS and Nordique Racing down in 43rd and 53rd, respectively.
Garage 59 took three pole positions in the Bronze Cup last season, and have carried that form into 2025 as Tom Fleming, Guilherme Oliveira and Miguel Ramos averaged a 1:54.531 to put the #188 McLaren onto class pole in sixteenth overall.
Pole position in the Silver Cup went to VSR’s #60 Lamborghini of Michele Beretta, Alessio Deledda and Finlay Hutchison, with an average time of a 1:54.643, good enough for 20th overall.
Steller Motorsport qualified an impressive fourth in Silver ahead of their GT World Challenge Europe debut, with their #24 Corvette Z06 GT3.R ending up less than a tenth behind the class pole-sitters. The British outfit was fastest in the class in Q2, after a 1:54.728 from Kiern Jewiss late in the session.
The #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche qualified 55th overall, but will have to start from the pitlane after an engine change overnight.
Despite a constant threat of rain, it was a remarkably clean session, with all 59 cars setting times in all three sessions and no teams facing a large repair job ahead of the race.
The six-hour season opener takes place later today, starting at 18:00 CEST and racing through sunset to a midnight finish.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
