The starting grid positions for the 69th running of the Total 24 Hours of Spa have been taken. The three Mercedes-AMG GT3 that were qualified for the Superpole session successfully made their marks in the shootout session for the 20 fastest cars. The #84 posted the fastest time of the cars from Affalterbach: seventh place on the grid for the Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport. The #90 AKKA ASP entry will be starting from 13th place into the Belgian endurance racing classic. The #88 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP car will be starting from the tenth row. In total, eleven Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be on the grid at Spa.
Starting grid positions 7, 13, 20, 22, 26, 30, 39, 44, 48 and 49 for Mercedes-AMG GT3*
Saturday, 29 July, 2017, 16:30 hrs: race start
Spa-Francorchamps – With strong performances and good starting grid positions, the ‘opening acts’ of this year’s 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps came to an end. The Superpole qualifying session in the evening marked the thrilling highlight. Previously, three of the eleven Mercedes-AMG GT3 had qualified for this session. In the shoot-out of the 20 fastest cars of the preceding qualifying, the teams staged a battle for the fastest time that remained thrilling till the very end. The pole-winning time only was set just before the end of the 30 minutes’ qualifying session.
Franck Perera went out to qualify the #84 Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport car. The Frenchman initially having posted the fourth-fastest time (2m17.859s), he was toppled in the closing stages, so that he, Maximilian Buhk (GER) and Jimmy Eriksson (SWE) will be starting from seventh place. Raffaele Marciello (ITA), who had posted the fastest time of all 63 cars in the field yesterday placed #90 AKKA ASP car in 13th place today. In the 24-hour race, he will be alternating with Michael Meadows (GBR) and Edoardo Mortara (ITA). Daniel Juncadella (ESP) couldn’t improve any further: the Mercedes-AMG DTM test driver and his team-mates Felix Serralles (PUR) and Tristan Vautier (FRA) will be starting from 20th place with the #80 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP entry.
On Thursday, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams already convinced with good achievements. As the time differences in the decisive qualifying sessions were very small – the lap times of the 36 fastest cars were within one second – some of the strong Mercedes-AMG GT3 teams also just missed out on making it into the Superpole qualifying session. For instance, the #4 Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON car was only 0.1 seconds down on the top 20: 22nd place on the grid for Yelmer Buurman (NED), Adam Christodoulou (GBR) and Luca Stolz (GER).
The #85 HTP Motorsport car came within 0.25 seconds of making it into the shoot-out: for Dominik Baumann (AUT), Edward Sandström (SWE) and Fabian Schiller (GER), that means 26th place on the grid. The #89 AKKA ASP entry will start the classic endurance race from 30th place: Ludovic Badey (FRA), Nico Bastian (GER), Alex Fontana (SUI) and Daniele Perfetti (SUI) also ended up as the sixth-fastest team of the Pro-Am class.
The starting grid positions of the further Mercedes-AMG GT3: P39 for #16 BLACK FALCON, P44 for #18 BLACK FALCON, P48 for #48 MANN-FILTER Team HTP Motorsport and P49 for #15 BLACK FALCON. The Japanese GOODSMILE RACING & Team UKYO will be joining the field at the back from the pit lane. The team’s #00 Mercedes-AMG GT3 had an accident on Thursday and was unable to participate in night qualifying.
Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing: “There is no doubt that we would have liked to be a little bit further up front. Franck Perera has shown in Superpole where we are approximately. In any case, we can be very happy with seventh place. Now, it is about pooling our strengths. The race will definitely be very tough. Our teams are very well sorted and highly motivated to show their performance over this long distance.”
Franck Perera, Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport #84: “I am happy with the Superpole. The HTP Motorsport team is doing a good job and we always find the right set-up for the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Any predictions for the race are difficult, but it will be highly interesting. We are optimistic for the start tomorrow afternoon and we will battle for victory.”
Raffaele Marciello, AKKA ASP #90: “The car handled really well, like it has been doing all weekend so far. Here, the starting grid position isn’t so important. After all, we have seen how small the gaps are. Yesterday, we had the fastest time and today, we set the 13th time, that doesn’t make me happy or unhappy. It is the race that counts. And I am really looking forward to that. This is my first 24-hour race and the field is really strong. After all, it is the world’s biggest 24-hour race. Being here is really exciting for me, especially as I reckon that we will be able to be in contention up front!”
Daniel Juncadella, Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP #88: “This is a 24-hour race, so the starting grid position isn’t really decisive. In the qualifying sessions yesterday, we tried a few things from which we will surely benefit during the race. The car was very good and we all know what good endurance racing qualities the Mercedes-AMG GT3 has.”
