Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing’s Jules Gounon has scored pole position for the second GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup race at Misano.
The Andorran-flagged racer, who is making a one-off Sprint appearance aboard the 2 Seas Motorsaport-run #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO with Chris Lulham absent, set a 1:32.017 on his final flying lap to surpass the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Kelvin van der Linde by 0.057 seconds.
It is Gounon’s first Sprint Cup pole since Magny-Cours 2024, Mercedes-AMG’s first since Brands Hatch 2025, and a maiden Sprint Cup pole for 2 Seas Motorsport.
To make it all the more impressive, Gounon didn’t drive at all yesterday following co-driver Daniel Juncadella’s involvement in the opening lap incident, meaning this morning’s 10-minute qualifying was his first time behind the wheel since Free Practice 2 on Friday.
“I’m relieved for the guys,” Gounon said. “They worked until 3AM last night after what happened at the start, and it’s never nice to see your mechanics struggling in the heat trying to repair the car.
“So far the year’s been very difficult [Verstappen Racing is currently on a run of three consecutive retirements], but there is always a rainbow after the storm, so hopefully we are at the end of the storm and can have a good one this afternoon.”
Van der Linde held on to second in the #32 BMW, which won yesterday’s Race 1, with third going to the impressive #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Kobe Pauwels. The Belgian was only 0.068 seconds off pole position, in a major turnaround of the #7 Aston Martin’s form from yesterday.
Fourth went to the #46 Team WRT BMW of Max Hesse, ahead of Arthur Leclerc’s #50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo and Maro Engel’s #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG.
Arthur Rougier claimed Gold Cup pole in seventh overall in the #111 CSA Racing McLaren GT3 Evo, following a 1:32.364 from the Frenchman, with three more Pro cars, Emil Frey Racing’s pair of Ferraris and Jordan Pepper’s #31 Team WRT BMW, completing the top 10.
The second best of the Gold runners, the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Alex Aka, was 11th, ahead of the #555 CSA Racing McLaren.
It was a disappointing qualifying for the championship-leading #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) of Bastian Buus, which qualified in 13th overall, and with Buus and Ricardo Feller only leading van der Linde and Charles Weerts by 0.5 points, their advantage at the top of the table appears to be under threat this afternoon.
Another underwhelming showing came from the #59 Garage 59 McLaren, aboard which Marvin Kirchhöfer claimed pole for this event last year, but the German could only manage 18th this time around after losing multiple laps to track limits.
Aurelien Panis earned Silver Cup honours aboard the #6 GetSpeed Team BartoneBros Mercedes-AMG, following an entertaining Group A session which saw five different Silver entries enjoy spells at the top of the times. Following the Group B session for Pro and Gold Cup runners, Panis’ 1:32.722 saw him end up 14th overall.
This is six places ahead of the second-best Silver, the #52 AF Corse Ferrari of Gilles Stadsbader, with Mateo Villagomez’s #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin third. The championship-leading #30 Team WRT BMW will start from fifth in Silver.
And in the Bronze Cup, reigning British GT champion Charles Dawson had a successful maiden Sprint Cup qualifying, with the Briton claiming pole aboard the #222 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG.
Dawson was already fastest when the chequered flag waved, but improved further on his final lap to confirm pole with a 1:33.181.
Peter Dempsey was second in the #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche, 0.239 seconds back, with defending champion Dustin Blattner qualifying the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari in third. Gabriel Rindone was seventh aboard the #12 GetSpeed Team Dubai Mercedes-AMG, which is the early Bronze championship leader after winning yesterday.
Race 2 at Misano will take place at 14:30 CEST.
Image courtesy of SRO/JEP
