LP Racing and DINAMIC Motorsport shared overall pole positions in a Maserati sweep for the penultimate round of the GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli at Valencia.
Am title leader Philippe Prette added two more crucial points to his tally with a double Am class pole alongside the overall top spot honours in Q1, while Q2 spoils went the way of the Pro-Am DINAMIC Motorsport crew with a lap record-smashing effort.
The first 20-minute session was a case of building up the pace for Prette and, after losing his initial best effort to track limits, he improved and didn’t make the same mistake twice to plant the #1 LP Racing Maserati onto overall pole for the first race of the weekend.
It usurped the quickest of the Pro-Am contenders, Viktor Mraz, who put in a superlative performance in the #89 RTR Projects KTM X-BOW that he shares with Mato Homola. He would finish the session just 0.145s off the lead Maserati, sealing a front row starting spot.
Fellow Pro-Am rivals DINAMIC Motorsport took third thanks to Roberto Pampanini in the #7 Maserati, while Am class title contender Petr Lisa climbed to fourth place in the #294 RTR Projects Mercedes-AMG, beating the LP Racing Audi R8 LMS GT2 of Luca Pirri who takes on the weekend as a solo driver.
Alberto De Martin was sixth for the NM Racing Team (#115 Mercedes-AMG), with Oliver Freymuth (#24 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo 2) rounding out the top seven for AKF Motorsport.
Contact between Bronek Formanek's #11 Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra Lamborghini and Lisa's Mercedes-AMG resulted in a penalty being handed out to the former, meaning Formanek starts the opening race from the back of the grid.
The second qualifying session got off to an equally competitive start, with Stefan Rosina initially holding the advantage having taken the wheel of Formanek’s Lamborghini. His best time was removed for track limits however, allowing a charging Mauro Calamia to pounce in the DINAMIC Motorsport Maserati.
The Swiss driver lowered the series lap record at Valencia as he put together a time of 1:33.043s, confirming pole position and closing the Pro-Am points deficit by one point as an additional reward.
Second went to Nil Montserrat who climbed to second for NM Racing Team despite a quick spin, Rosina settling for third in the Pro-Am points-leading Lamborghini ahead of Homola’s KTM in fourth.
Prette meanwhile added another point to his Am tally with the class and fifth overall, narrowly ahead of Pirri in the sister LP Racing entry. Lisa’s team-mate Ondrej Rokos managed seventh in their Mercedes-AMG, with Freymuth finishing eighth.
Next up is the first 60-minute race of the weekend’s two 60-minute races at the Spanish circuit, kicking off from 16:50 CEST. You can keep up with all of the action live via GT World on YouTube.