+ Result: Qualifying 1, Misano
+ Result: Qualifying 2, Misano
Antoine Potty and Jay Mo Härtling secured a pole position each at Misano, with the i4Race Maserati and SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG coming out on top of two tight qualifying sessions.
Potty beat two red flag stoppages in Q1 to end Mercedes-AMG’s stranglehold and secure Race 1 pole for the #6 Maserati, before Härtling timed his Q2 run just right around the session’s sole pause to grab his second pole of the year in the #111 Mercedes-AMG.
Philippe Prette’s 100% Masters pole record at Misano ended thanks to Viktor Mraz and the RTR Projects KTM in Q1, before Prette reasserted himself in Q2, putting the LP Racing Maserati just ahead of Mraz’s team-mate Davit Kajaia.
Q1: Potty puts it on pole
Q1 proved a disrupted session, with two red flags punctuating the running and making it difficult for drivers to build a rhythm. Potty fared best, emerging ahead from a late dash for pole.
Prette did the early running before Mikkel Njor took a turn at the top in the #3 CMR Ginetta. This kick-started a tight battle with Potty, as the Belgian and the Dane traded the best time before the first red flag was called after a collision between David Thilenius in the #111 Mercedes-AMG and Marius Aigner’s #119 MZR KTM.
Njor was ahead when running resumed, but Potty found space on his penultimate lap to surge ahead by 0.6s, just before a second red flag halted the session early and denied any further improvements. Njor held second ahead of Adrián Ferrer’s #116 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG with Stefan Rosina scoring a solid fourth in the #88 LP Racing Audi that had failed to complete a lap so far across the event due to a persistent electrical issue.
Mraz was a fine fifth to seal Masters pole ahead of the impressive Célia Martin, who grabbed second in class on her series debut in the #18 LP Maserati. Prette had to settle for third in the Masters order right behind.
Thomas Yu Lee chased Prette home to snatch a first Pro-Am pole for himself and LP Racing team-mate Niccoló Pirri. Aigner recovered from the clash to hold second in class.
Q2: Härtling doubles up
After a near-flawless start to the season at Monza, followed by a difficult last outing at Spa, Jay Mo Härtling was under some pressure to deliver at Misano. He did so in the finest way, claiming a second pole for SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm.
The Pro-Am and SRO GT Academy leader set a time of 1m34.553s in his #111 Mercedes-AMG to overcome Potty by exactly two tenths of a second. The Belgian narrowly beat Ethan Gialdini (#3 CMR Ginetta) by 0.057s to secure another Silver pole and P2 overall. Gialdini had briefly occupied P1, only to lose his lap time for exceeding track limits.
Lorenzo Marucci was fourth in the #88 LP Racing Audi, followed by Moritz Wiskirchen in the second of the SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm cars. The German took P2 in Pro-Am, immediately ahead of class rival Nil Montserrat (#115 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG).
Prette reasserted his dominance in Masters, qualifying P7 overall and beating Davit Kajaia (#89 KTM) to class pole. Two more Masters crews completed the top 10 overall, with Jack Russel (#898 MZR KTM) ending the session ahead of Luca Pirri (#18 LP Racing Maserati).
Q2 was interrupted by a late red flag for Niccoló Pirri, who found the gravel in his Maserati and required recovery. There was still time for the track to go green again and another flurry of laps, but no serious improvements were made.
This weekend’s opening GT2 Europe race gets underway at 14:50 CEST and can be watched live around the globe on the GT World YouTube channel.