CMR drivers Stéphane Tribaudini and Pierre-Alexandre Jean set the pace in today’s qualifying sessions at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The two French drivers, driving the brand new Alpine A110 GT4, were fastest in their respective sessions. Racing One’s Markus Lungstrass and Bullitt Racing’s Andy Meyrick claimed the Pro-Am poles for this weekend’s races, with Muehlner Motorsport’s Moritz Kranz and CMR’s David Loger setting the fastest times in the Am qualifying sessions.
QUALIFYING 1: CMR ALPINE FASTEST, MUEHLNER AND RACING ONE CLAIM CLASS POLES
Having already set the fastest time on Friday, the CMR Alpine A110 GT4s were on the pace again in Qualifying and it was Stéphane Tribaudini in the #35 Alpine A110 GT4 who set the fastest lap in the 15-minute session.
The 34-year-old French driver set the fastest time of the session with just over a minute left on the clock, in a session that once again saw many drivers exceeding track limits at the top of the Raidillon. However, Tribaudini won’t start tomorrow’s opening race from the front row, as he will have to serve a three-place grid penalty given to him after an incident at the Misano World Circuit.
Guest starter Moritz Kranz in the Am-class entered #69 Muehlner Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 CS MR was the fastest driver in the first part of the session, but the eventually qualified his car in fourth place overall and on class pole.
First to beat Kranz’ time was Team GT’s Paul Rees and moments later HHC Motorsport’s Will Tregurtha went even faster. Behind them Tribaudini went for it again and right before the end he clocked a 2:32.073 in his car. Paul Rees was then forced to park the #87 Team GT McLaren 570S GT4 with a damaged tyre, which led to a yellow flag and no further improvements.
Finlay Hutchison qualified the #10 Equipe Verschuur McLaren 570S GT4 in fifth place, ahead of the #16 Racing One Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Markus Lungstrass, who claimed the Pro-Am pole position. Silver Cup title contender Milan Dontje qualified his Phoenix Racing Audi in seventh overall, followed by the #47 Lechner Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Jakob Schober, the #1 MDM Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 and the #31 Selleslagh Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT4.
Luiz Floss ultimately came out in second place in Pro-Am, with Phoenix Racing’s Gosia Rdest in third place. Niki Leutwiler ended the session second in Am, followed by Autorlando Sport driver Giuseppe Ghezzi.
QUALIFYING 2: CMR ON SILVER CUP AND AM POLES; BULLITT RACING FIRST IN PRO-AM
In Qualifying 2 there was more of the same, with a large number of lap times deleted for exceeding track limits and CMR’s Pierre-Alexandre Jean making it two from two in Qualifying for the #35 CMR Alpine A110 GT4.
The young French driver’s fastest lap of 2:31.916 was the fastest time set so far this weekend and it was 0.196s quicker than the time set by Stuart Middleton in the #55 HHC Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4. Right behind Middleton it was his rival Nicolaj Møller-Madsen in the Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4.
Fourth-fastest overall and fastest in the Am class was David Loger in the #27 CMR Alpine A110 GT4. Ricardo van der Ende (Equipe Verschuur – McLaren) and Andy Meyrick (Bullitt Racing – Mercedes) completed the top six, with Meyrick claiming the Pro-Am pole for tomorrow’s second race.
Nicky Pastorelli qualified the #18 V8 Racing Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R in second place in the Pro-Am class. Pastorelli was only a couple of hundredths quicker than his former teammate, Marc Basseng in the #13 Schwede Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 CS MR. In the AM class second place went to Allied-Racing’s Nicolas Schöll, while Niki Leutwiler set the third-fastest time in his class.
Phoenix Racing driver Cedric Freiburghaus went off the track towards the end of Qualifying 2, causing extensive damage to the #3 Audi R8 LMS GT4. The Swiss driver walked away unscathed, but his team will have some work to fix the car for tomorrow’s races.
DRIVER QUOTES
Stéphane Tribaudini, #35 CMR Alpine A110 GT4: “It is really great to be fastest. Last week we raced the Alpine in the French championship and we had two bad qualifying sessions because of some problems. Normally, we would have had a win on the first race, but we had a puncture. So this is a great for us and we’re really happy. Unfortunately, I will only start from fourth on the grid as I had an accident at Misano. It’s a bit unlucky, but fourth is much better than the last races.”
Pierre-Alexander Jean, #35 CMR Alpine A110 GT4: “It was a great quali. I am quite happy about my lap, it’s my first pole position in this championship. I was very close in Zolder, so it’s good to have a pole position on this track!”
