Richard Westbrook claims pole in GT2

With a lap time of 1:47.043 minutes, Richard Westbrook claims his fifth career FIA GT pole position in the GT2 category. The Prospeed Competition Porsche driver is followed by Alvaro Barba and Tim Mullen, driving an AF Corse Ferrari and a CRS Racing Ferrari respectively.

Dark clouds above the circuit, but when qualifying gets underway at 4.45 pm, there are only some very small rain drops. The two CRS Racing Ferraris are the first cars out on the track with Kirkaldy and Mullen driving. Everyone is determined to get at least one quick lap in before rain really sets in. The leading position changes virtually every time a driver crosses the start-finish line. Halfway through the session, Richard Westbrook is on top of the leaderboard, having lapped in 1:47.043 minutes with his Prospeed Competition Porsche 997 GT3 RS. Second place is being held by Alvaro Barba with the number 51AF Corse Ferrari, who is 0.219 seconds slower than the Brit. Gianmaria Bruni is third fastest with the number 50 AF Corse Ferrari, but the Italian is soon being outpaced by Tim Mullen, who takes his CRS Racing Ferrari F430 to third fastest in class with 1:47.347 minutes.

With 3.50 minutes remaining, Paulo Ruberti goes off the track at the exit of turn 9. His number 77 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari is stuck in the gravel trap. Obviously, yellow flags are out in sector two. As a result, there are no more time improvements, which means that Westbrook remains fastest in class, followed by Barba, Mullen, Bruni, Ragginger, Ruberti, Russo, Sugden and Kirkaldy.

Richard Westbrook was happy with his pole position. "We had a perfect car today. For us, the key thing is to get back to the form we had at Silverstone and Adria. The main thing is having a good car for tomorrow, then a good start into the race, and then try to make the best out of it", the Brit commented.

The only entrant in the G2 class, Slovakian driver Andrej Studenic takes his Auto Racing Club Bratislava-entered Saleen S7 to a lap time of 1:45.599 minutes.