+ Result: Qualifying 1, Spa-Francorchamps
+ Result: Qualifying 2, Spa-Francorchamps
CMR’s twin Ginettas claimed a pole position each at Spa-Francorchamps, with the G56 GT2 proving to be a force around the famed Belgian venue.
Ethan Gialdini came out on top of a busy opening session to claim top spot race Race 1, before Ginetta factory driver Mike Simpson doubled the team’s joy in the sister car he shares with Lawrence Tomlinson, boss of the British manufacturer.
Shota Abkhazava and Lennart Marioneck claimed a Masters class pole each for ART-Line and RTR Projects respectively.
Q1: Gialdini makes it count
With Spa being such a long lap and all cars starting on cold tyres and brakes, it took a while for the top runners to show their true pace, but that also led to an unpredictable dash to the flag when the field was truly up to temperature.
Tomlinson set the opening benchmark before Philippe Prette took a turn out front in the #1 LP Racing Maserati. But then came the Silver runners, with Gialdini initially trading the fastest time with Stefan Rosina’s LP Audi. Antoine Potty then brought the i4Race Maserati into the mix before Gialdini finally hammered the result home with a superb 2:18.804s effort that put the #3 G56 1.3s clear.
Potty held off Rosina for second as Adrian Ferrer brought the #116 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG into fourth.
Despite skipping both practice sessions on Friday, Abkhazava got straight up to speed by scoring an impressive Masters pole and securing fifth spot overall ahead of class dominator Prette. In doing so, the ART-Line Lamborghini also made it five different brands within the top five. Tomlinson was seventh and also claimed the Pro-Am pole for Ginetta.
Q2: Simpson smashes the opposition
If Gialdini’s effort from Q1 was impressive, Simpson’s was stellar, shaving almost an extra second off the sister car's earlier best.
Mikkel Njor looked to follow in Gialdini’s wheeltracks by going fastest early on before Lennart Marioneck’s RTR Projects KTM and Iron Dames’ new Maserati in the hands of Sarah Bovy both displaced him. Danish driver Njor fought back though and a double pole for the #3 looked odds-on. But nobody had told Simpson, who thundered the #62 to a 1:17.920s on his final lap to go 0.8s clear, setting the fastest lap of the entire weekend so far, despite admitting to a comfort lift at Raidillon.
Njor made it a CMR Ginetta one-two, ahead of the flying Simon Birch who was third in the Razoon – more than racing KTM. Jay Mo Härtling pulled off some brave moves in traffic to go fourth fastest in the Pro-Am points-leading SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG ahead of Potty’s Maserati. Bovy finished a strong sixth on her first qualifying in the Maserati, beating Reinhard Kofler’s MZR KTM.
On his first GT2 start since Barcelona last year, Marioneck finished just outside the top 10 overall to claim Masters pole for himself and Viktor Mraz in the #89 X-Bow ahead of Abkhazava and Prette.
The opening race of the weekend at Spa Speedweek takes place at 16:35 local time.