FIA GT – Team WRT on pole ahead of Sébastien Loeb Racing (MAJ)

Qualifying for the inaugural round of the FIA ​​GT Series at Nogaro offers great promise for the season, the pole of the qualifying race having been particularly contested between the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT and Sébastien Loeb Racing. The qualifying format has evolved since last year's FIA GT1 World as each driver sets a time in the first two qualifying sessions. The average of the two times then makes it possible to establish the top ten on the grid who will fight for pole in Q3.

René Rast was the fastest during the last qualifying session, taking pole in 1'26 at the wheel of the No. 091 Audi R8 LMS ultra which he shares with Niki Mayr-Melnhof. There McLaren MP4-12C n°10 of Sébastien Loeb Racing driven by Mike Parisy and Andreas Zuber lost by only nine thousandths. The sister car of the team of the nine-time world champion WRC completes the top three of the session with a tenth behind. But the No. 9 will ultimately start from the front row after the No. 10 saw all of its Q3 times canceled due to maximum turbo pressure exceeding six times the authorized limit. The Belgian team surrounds the Woking cars as the two other R8 LMS ultra from Team WRT follow on the second row with the #13 of Frank Stippler and Edward Sandström third ahead of the #11 of Stéphane Ortelli and Laurens Vanthoor.

The third row of the starting grid for the qualifying race is completed by another Audi, with the No. 8 Novadriver R14 LMS ultra driven by César Campanico and Carlos Viera. The first BMW is sixth with the Z4 of Team Brazil of Bueno-Khodair. The Nissan GT Academy places a GT-R Nismo GT3 in the top eight with the No. 35 from Buncombe-Ordonez. The Zuber-Parisy McLaren will have to start in ninth place. On the other hand, AF Corse is out for the rest of the weekend following Fabio Onidi's accident in Q1 which damaged the chassis of the Ferrari 458 Italia n°51.

The FIA ​​GT Series qualifying race at Nogaro will be contested tomorrow from 14:15 p.m. The Championship race will start the next day at the same time. Discover the images of the Easter Cups in Nogaro in our Picture gallery.