Rene Rast continued his strong run of form in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup by taking pole position at Silverstone, as his British title rivals Nick Tandy and Sean Edwards could only manage fourth and tenth on the grid respectively.
Veltins Lechner Racing driver Rast arrived at the Silverstone round off the back of wins at the previous rounds at Monaco and the World Cup event at the Nurburgring. He was 0.322 seconds quicker than his nearest rival in qualifying, his late effort relegating teammate Norbert Siedler to second.
“To be on pole in Silverstone is a very special feeling,” said defending champion Rast. “I'm very confident for the race as I only just ran in my second set of tyres over one lap today.
“I hope to be able to make up a few points in the championship and I'm especially pleased about our team effort with Norbert starting beside me.”
Siedler was pleased to make a second consecutive front row lockout for his team. “To have the first row occupied by Veltins Lechner Racing – now that's perfect,” he said. “Still, I'm not entirely satisfied. With my second set of tyres I wasn't able to realise everything that was possible today.”
Supercup rookie Kevin Estre qualified a surprise third for Hermes Attempto Racing.
“To stand so far at the front of the grid is great, especially on a famous circuit like Silverstone,” said the Frenchman. “I didn't get anywhere with my first set of tyres, I was far away from the top. On my second set I immediately put in my fastest lap. Of course, I'm very pleased with my third place.”
Big things were expected of Tandy and Edwards at their home round, but neither could deliver in qualifying at least. Konrad Motorsport driver Tandy did at least get his car onto the second row alongside Estre, which was much better than championship leader Edwards who slumped to tenth place for Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit.
Kuba Giermaziak continued his impressive run of form with fifth place on his 21st birthday, one place ahead of Edwards' teammate Jeroen Bleekemolen. Christian Engelhardt, winner of the season opener at Istanbul, was seventh ahead of practice pacesetter Stefan Rosina.
James Sutton, making a guest appearance from the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain, secured ninth on the grid ahead of Edwards. Other runners from the British series were Michael Meadows in 11th, Benji Hetherington in 17th, Sam Tordoff in 20th, Ahmad Al Harthy in 21st, Keith Webster in 24th and Andrew Shelley in 26th and last place.
Qualifying results:
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
1 | Rene Rast | Veltins Lechner Racing | 2:05.621 | |
2 | Norbert Siedler | Veltins Lechner Racing | 2:05.943 | 0.322 |
3 | Kevin Estre | Hermes Attempto Racing | 2:06.076 | 0.455 |
4 | Nick Tandy | Konrad Motorsport | 2:06.082 | 0.461 |
5 | Kuba Giermaziak | Verva Racing Team | 2:06.095 | 0.474 |
6 | Jeroen Bleekemolen | Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit | 2:06.133 | 0.512 |
7 | Christian Engelhart | Konrad Motorsport | 2:06.168 | 0.547 |
8 | Stefan Rosina | Verva Racing Team | 2:06.208 | 0.587 |
9 | James Sutton | SAS International | 2:06.319 | 0.698 |
10 | Sean Edwards | Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit | 2:06.325 | 0.704 |
11 | Michael Meadows | SAS International | 2:06.428 | 0.807 |
12 | Patrick Huisman | Team Bleekemolen | 2:06.587 | 0.966 |
13 | Robert Lukas | Hermes Attempto Racing | 2:06.665 | 1.044 |
14 | Matt Halliday | Sanitec Aquiles MRS Team | 2:06.791 | 1.170 |
15 | Sebastiaan Bleekemolen | Team Bleekemolen | 2:06.839 | 1.218 |
16 | Alessandro Zampedri | Team Bleekemolen | 2:07.246 | 1.625 |
17 | Benji Hetherington | Porsche Cars Great Britain | 2:07.446 | 1.825 |
18 | Mathias Lauda | Konrad Motorsport Austria | 2:07.507 | 1.886 |
19 | William Langhorne | Sanitec Aquiles MRS Team | 2:07.631 | 2.010 |
20 | Sam Tordoff | Schnabl Engineering | 2:07.885 | 2.264 |
21 | Ahmad Al Harthy | Porsche Cars Great Britain | 2:08.208 | 2.587 |
22 | Andreas Mayerl | Konrad Motorsport Austria | 2:09.168 | 3.547 |
23 | Khaled Al Qubaisi | Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit | 2:09.607 | 3.986 |
24 | Keith Webster | Schnabl Engineering | 2:10.459 | 4.838 |
25 | Yucel Ozbek | Sanitec Aquiles MRS Team | 2:11.479 | 5.858 |
26 | Andrew Shelley | Porsche Cars Great Britain | 2:11.886 | 6.265 |