Mercedes and Black Falcon take pole in Barcelona

Contested taking into account the average of the times of the three drivers of each crew, the last qualifying session of the 2018 Blancpain GT Series season Endurance Cup in Barcelona smiled at Mercedes and No. 4 – Black Falcon by Maro Engel – Yelmer Buurman – Luca Stolz.

In Q1, and faithful to his good habit since the start of the championship, the Belgian Dries Vanthoor was the fastest from the first laps, placing his Audi R8 LMS GT3 n°1 – Team WRT at the top of the hierarchy in 1'44″068 before seeing Mirko Bortolotti (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 n°63 – GRT) temporarily return to the lead.

But Vanthoor responded straight away in 1'43″950, a time achieved just before a red flag neutralization, following Pieter Schothorst's violent accident in the No. 8 Audi R3 LMS GT66 – Attempto Racing at the exit of the Campsa corner. . The driver got out of his car without serious injuries.

Red flag and a nasty crash for the #66 Attempto-Audi. Pieter Schothorst was at the wheel. Fortunately he's out and okay. https://t.co/jLnH2e2zLs pic.twitter.com/Gn4i4AXbhe

— Blancpain GT Series (@BlancpainGT) September 30, 2018

At the restart, no improvement was noted for the best time, but Vanthoor saw his time canceled for having improved under the yellow flag. It is therefore Felipe Fraga (Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°44 – Strakka Racing) who finishes Q1 in the lead with a reference time of 1'43″951, 70 thousandths ahead of Mirko Bortolotti and 117 thousandths ahead of Dries Vanthoor.

Followed by Simon Gachet (No. 8 Audi R3 LMS GT25 – Saintéloc Racing), Franck Perera (No. 3 Lamborghini Huracan GT82 – GRT) and Tristan Vautier (No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT88 – Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA-ASP).

The favorites are present

Q2 was then largely disrupted by a Full Course Yellow to evacuate the #24 – Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo stuck in the gravel trap of turn #1, and by a red flag in the final moments following the exit of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 n°888 – Car Collection.

But thanks to Christian Vietoris, aligned in the No. 44, Strakka Racing and Mercedes still maintain the best provisional average time in 1'44″330, 111 thousandths ahead of the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT4 – Black Falcon by Maro Engel, author of the absolute best time in Q2.

Less success for the crew of the Mercedes n°88 – AKKA-ASP, since hampered by the neutralizations, Dani Juncadella cannot do better than the 12th time, the French car falling to 8th provisional place before the decisive part.

The last word finally goes to No. 4 – Black Falcon d'Engel – Stolz – Buurman which finishes with the best average in 1'44″312. This result offers a bonus point to the trio who returns to a tie in the championship with Raffaele Marciello.

Second, the No. 8 Audi R1 LMS – Team WRT from Vanthoor – Riberas – Mies failed at 172 thousandths and preceded the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT43 – Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing from Buhk – Parente – Götz, third at 274 thousandths. thousandths.

Championship leader, Raffaele Marciello, supported by Tristan Vautier and Dani Juncadella in the No. 88 Mercedes – AKKA-ASP will start from 4th position, and may regret the poor performance of Dani Juncadella in Q2, Marciello setting the best time absolute time of the session in 1'43″667.

Good performance for the No. 8 Audi R3 LMS GT25 – Saintéloc Racing de Haase – Feller – Gachet, which entered the top 5. Pole in the Silver Cup went to the No. 3 Jaguar G54 – Emil Frey Racing de Fontana – Zaugg – Grenier, when the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT42 – Strakka Racing of Williamson – Leventis – Buncombe dominates the Pro-Am.

The No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT89 of the Debard – Barthez tandem (AKKA-ASP) takes pole in the Am Cup, while remaining under investigation for possible excessive speed in the pit lane.

The three-hour event will begin at 15 p.m., and will be followed live on video with commentary in French on our website.

Qualification ranking