Pierre Kaffer set a new lap record in Qualifying for the third round of the Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli at Spa-Francorchamps, while Alexandre Leroy also earned a pole position at the Belgian venue.
The experienced Kaffer brought his scintillating Thursday form into Qualifying on Friday morning, putting he and Michael Doppelmayr’s LP Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2 at the head of the starting grid for the second of the weekend’s two races. His ultimate best of 2:16.845s was also a lap record, eclipsing the previous best from 2022 by almost four seconds.
Before that, Am class points leader Leroy grabbed the headlines by clinching his first pole position in Fanatec GT2 competition for TFT Racing. The Belgian did so with a 2:19.126s effort early in the session, heading a sweep of the top three spots for Maserati GT2 crews.
Leonardo Gorini was his closest rival in the #1 LP Racing entry, pipping the Italian team’s sister car of Philippe Prette as the top three were covered by a mere 0.186s. Team MZR continued their strong form as Martin Koch took fourth in the #812 KTM X-BOW GT2, while Stefano Costantini’s #88 LP Racing Audi rounded out the top five despite losing a faster lap to track limits.
Sixth place capped a strong GT2 Qualifying for RTR Projects debutant Petr Lisa in the #89 KTM, getting the better of the similar #80 X-BOW of Thomas Andersen for Razoon - More Than Racing.
Two Mercedes-AMG GT2 crews followed, with Pascal Gibon besting his Akkodis ASP team-mate Gilles Vannelet in their internal battle for eighth place. Ginetta and Team CMR started strongly on their series debut meanwhile as Lawrence Tomlinson’s climbed into the top 10 with a late flyer in the G56 GTX.
The pace rapidly increased for pro drivers in Q2, and Kaffer wasted no time in blitzing the previous lap record to confirm a first pole position of the term for himself and the #18 Audi squad.
GT2 returnee Matej Homola ran him closest with an effort 0.430s shy of pole in the RTR Projects KTM. The Czech driver demoted Simon Birch to third by 0.024s, the latter having headed the times mid-stage for Razoon - More Than Racing.
Reinhard Kofler took control of the Team MZR X-BOW and matched Koch’s grid position of fourth, ahead of the #1 Maserati, now with Carlo Tamburini at the helm. Loris Hezemans was next up in the Motorsport 98 Mercedes-AMG, which Eric De Doncker qualified 11th for race one.
Seventh went to Prette, who was fastest of the Am class contingent, with Formula 4 convert Alfio Andrea Spina’s #88 Audi separating him from his nearest class rival, Leroy, in ninth. The second Razoon - More Than Racing KTM rounded out the top 10 thanks to the efforts of Dominik Olbert, who shares with Denis Liebl.
The opening Fanatec GT2 race from Spa-Francorchamps gets underway at 14:45 and will be streamed live on the GT World YouTube channel.