> PURE Racing seals provisional top spot ahead of Friday's Super Pole
> Qualifying result
A wild weather-affected qualifying session produced an unusual cast of Super Pole contenders at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa this evening where just seven Pro entries made it through to Friday’s top-20 showdown.
PURE Rxcing’s Bronze class Porsche will be the last to set a time tomorrow after its four drivers set the fastest average time across tonight’s 15-minute sessions. That anomaly is partly explained by the timing of two rain showers, which first hit Spa midway through Q1 and then returned with far greater intensity – albeit after the track had dried – before Q3.
However, that doesn’t fully explain how the 13 Bronze, Pro-Am, Silver and Gold entries progressed to Super Pole on merit at the expense of some serious big hitters that fell foul of the deteriorating conditions.
Regardless, the circumstances played perfectly into the hands of Huber Motorsport’s Antares Au, Tim Heinemann, Jannes Fittje and Matteo Cairoli who finished fastest of Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli’s contingent in third overall. The latter set fastest time in Q4 to secure an advantageous late Super Pole starting slot.
The jumbled order means just two of IGTC’s Pro nominations made it through, although both will be amongst the favourites for pole tomorrow. Manthey EMA’s Porsche shared by Julien Andlauer, Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre was the fastest Pro crew of all in seventh, while GruppeM’s Mercedes-AMG Maro Engel, Mikael Grenier and Daniel Juncadella finished 11th.
Au’s IGTC Independent Cup rival Stephen Grove also snuck into Super Pole thanks to Earl Bamber’s Q4 lap.
That pushed the best of the BMWs, featuring Maxime Martin, Valentino Rossi and Augusto Farfus outside of the top-20 by less than half-a-tenth.
Other fancied entries just falling short included WRT’s victorious Kyalami trio of Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts, and last year’s pole winning Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG that features IGTC points leader Jules Gounon.