The Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW driver trio of Philipp Eng, Tom Blomqvist and Christian Krognes delivered consistently quick performances aboard their M6 GT3 to take provisional pole and book a spot in Friday evening’s shootout. Norwegian ace Krognes proved to be particularly impressive by topping his segment of qualifying with a lap of 2:19.012.
Philipp Eng said, “It might come as a bit of a surprise that we have set the quickest qualifying time, but I’ll take it! My teammates did a brilliant job, and I am very proud of Walkenhorst Motorsport as well because this is the first time they have entered the Pro class at this race.
We had a fantastic car with excellent balance, so we just had to drive it. I struggled a bit with traffic, but the lap time was still enough. We have done the job for now, and we hope to be at the front again tomorrow and, more importantly, on Sunday.”
The fastest individual time belonged to Dries Vanthoor, who hustled his #1 Audi Sport Team WRT machine around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in 2:18.763. That saw the youngster lead his segment, though ultimately the #1 R8 LMS he shares with Christopher Mies and Alex Riberas took fourth on combined times.
Nevertheless, the Belgian squad will have considerable hope for the SuperPole session, which will see the top-twenty cars from this evening’s qualifying battle for their place on the first ten rows of the grid. Each squad will nominate one driver, who will complete just two flying laps of the circuit.
Credit: Craig Robertson
Among the other outfits to secure safe passage to tomorrow’s session were the defending race winners, Audi Sport Team Sainteloc, whose #25 entry was second fastest on average times. It led a quartet of R8 LMS machines, with two Audi Sport Team WRT cars followed by the #29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport entry.
Credit: Craig Robertson
Last year’s runner-up, the #8 Bentley Team M-Sport Continental GT3, was also comfortably among the top-20 in the sixth spot, followed by a Mercedes-AMG, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini and an Aston Martin. Representatives from a further three brands are also set to contest SuperPole, meaning 10 of the 13 competing marques will start among the top-20 on Saturday afternoon.
Of the three to miss out, the #23 GT Sport Motul Team RJN Nissan GT-R was a mere 0.020s shy of securing a spot among the 20 fastest cars. The #54 Emil Frey G3 Jaguar also came close to booking a SuperPole spot in 23rd, but the car nevertheless secured a very comfortable pole position for the Silver Cup class. Japanese marque Honda, which is making its first appearance at the 24 Hours with its new NSX GT3, will start from ninth in Pro Am and 49th overall.
Alex Fontana, driver of the #54 Jaguar, told us, “First of all, I am really happy to be here, especially as this is our fourth Endurance Cup pole position in a row. It wasn’t an easy task as we saw in free practice that we still had some work to do on the car.
As was the case for most of the drivers, it was difficult to get a clear lap because of the traffic. We just missed SuperPole, which would have been a great achievement, but we still have something to show for our work.”
Credit: Craig Robertson
The Pro Am class pole-sitter delivered a highly impressive performance, with the #49 RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Euan Hankey, Felix Rosenqvist, Darren Burke and Salih Yoluc securing twenty-fifth overall. Burke was second fastest in his qualifying segment, setting the #49 crew up for a particularly strong showing.
Credit: Craig Robertson
Am Cup pole was secured in commanding fashion by the #188 Garage 59 McLaren 650 S GT3 of Chris Harris, Alexander West, Chris Goodwin and Andrew Watson. The British squad took thirty-seventh overall, beating several Pro Am and Silver Cup cars in the process. In Group National, the #67 GDL Racing Lamborghini Super Trofeo will start from first in class after snatching top spot at the very end of qualifying.
“We have a lot of fun within this team, and Alexander West is the reason I am here, so delivering this result means a lot to us”, said Andrew Watson
“Garage 59 is a great team, and I couldn’t have asked for more. On the other hand, pole position does not mean that much in such a long race. Now we will have to fight to keep the position.”
Credit: Craig Robertson
The #76 R-Motorsport Aston Martin V12 Vantage will be among the significant absentees from SuperPole after a technical problem forced it to miss the final segment of qualifying. The car was fourth on average times when Jake Dennis came to a halt at Raidillon, scuppering the crew’s hopes of making tomorrow’s battle for the top grid positions.
The #7 Bentley Team M-Sport machine will also start from the back after failing to register a lap in the final segment of qualifying. It will be joined by the #6 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3, which did not take part in qualifying after suffering an accident in free practice.
Today’s SuperPole session is scheduled to get underway at 18.30 and will see the fastest drivers at the Total 24 Hours of Spa going all out to secure their place at the very front of the field.
