- Filip Sladecka stamps authority on first Spa qualifying stint to take race one pole position for True Racing by Reiter Engineering
- Anders Fjordbach earns Brabham Automotive Racing its second Pro-Am pole for race two
- LP Racing Audis of Henry Hassid and Elia Erhart take respective Am class honours
Three different manufacturers shared the qualifying honours for the Fanatec GT2 European Series’ flagship SRO Speed Week at Spa-Francorchamps this afternoon, with KTM, Brabham and Audi coming out on top of the two 20-minute qualifying sessions in Belgium.
True Racing by Reiter Engineering’s Filip Sladecka was the first to stamp his authority on the proceedings with a dominant outright race one pole position. Whilst team-mate Stefan Rosina featured highly in the second session, it was Anders Fjordbach that proved uncatchable to earn a second pole position of the season for the Brabham BT63 GT2 Concept.
The LP Racing Audis, meanwhile, proved to be the force to be reckoned with in the Am qualifying battle, with Henry Hassid claiming the race one class pole in the #67 car, and Elia Erhart achieved the same for the #18 Audi in session two.
Sladecka shines in Q1
Filip Sladecka wasted no time in setting the bar for the first qualifying session of the afternoon, the KTM X-BOW racer setting his time of 2:21.956 in the early stages of the 20-minute session.
Although the True Racing car’s time proved unbeatable, the rest of the grid took longer to establish. One of the first to top the timing screens before Sladecka’s run, Nicolas Saelens pushed hard to successfully keep his #11 PK Carsport on the front row ahead of Peter Guelinckx in the sister #81 Audi.
Current Am class championship leader, Henry Hassid delivered his best qualifying stint so far to claim his first pole position of the season, clocking in just 0.084s off Guelinckx in P3.
Kris Rosenberger, who teams with Sehdi Sarmini in the #16 True Racing KTM again this weekend, also produced his best qualifying performance so far to earn P2 in class. Another of the early top runners, LP Racing’s Leonardo Gorini held on to complete the Am top three and the top six overall.
Klaus Angerhofer in the #17 KTM finished seventh fastest, pushed all the way by Kevin Weeda’s Brabham BT63 GT2 just 0.1s adrift in eight, while Gianluca Giorgi’s Ebimotors Porsche and Aurelijus Rusteika’s Audi completed the top ten.
SRO Founder and CEO Stéphane Ratel celebrated his birthday with sixth in Pro-Am for the #88 LP Racing Audi, whilst Michael Doppelmayr completed the Am order.
Fjordbach earns another Brabham pole
Once again, the #15 True Racing KTM was quick to set the early benchmark and top the times in Q2, but this time the Brabham Automotive Factory Racing crew had the perfect reply – an outstanding lap by Anders Fjordbach securing the team’s second Pro-Am pole of its first full season of competition.
Stienes Longin came closest to the #1 Brabham to secure another front row start for the Pro-Am championship leading PK Carsport Audi on the team’s home event, while Stefan Rosina rounded out the top three.
High Class Racing’s 2021 championship-winning car led the rest of the Audi contingent in fourth overall, with Michael Vergers fending off Am pole sitter, LP Racing’s Elia Erhart and Bert Longin (PK Carsport) completing the top six.
A late charge from Luca Pirri pulled the LP Racing Audi up into seventh overall, a mere 0.067s ahead of Hassid in the sister Am car. Giorgi came out on top of the battle of the Porsches ninth, with Gorini rounding out the top 10, while the two KTMs of Sarmini and Hubert Trunkenpolz completed the Am order.
The fourth round of the Fanatec GT2 European Series will play out over two 50-minute races in the Ardennes forest at 10:25 and 17:00 CEST tomorrow, Sunday 24 July, both streamed live on the series website and GT World YouTube channel.