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GT Open: AF Corse, Autorlando secure Spa poles

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat // AF Corse Ferrari F430 GT2

Two qualifying sessions took place this morning at a warm Spa-Francorchamps circuit. AF Corse’s Pierre Kaffer and Vulkan Racing-Mintgen Motorsport’s Christopher Bruck secured the pole positions for race 1, while Richard Lietz (Autorlando Sport) and Marc Lieb (Manthey Racing) were quickest in the second qualifying session.

Qualifying 1 Saturday 26-06-2010

The first 35 minute qualifying for the International GT Open started a couple of minutes late because of a small incident in the European F3 Open. The weather was nice and sunny with the temperature already over 20°C as early as 10 a.m.

The session was divided in three parts so that the two classes within the championship would both have ten minutes of their own and 15 minutes together.

The first driver who tried to set a time was Christopher Bruck with the Dodge Viper GT3. He was followed by Marco Frezza in the Kessel Racing Ferrari F430 GT3 Scuderia at more than half a second.

During the session several cars were given warnings for cutting the track; Gianandrea Crespi and Mike Savary were among the drivers told to respect the race track. Beniamino Caccia and Julien Rodrigues literally started fighting, their cars bumping into each other on the finish straight, nearly causing an accident.

After ten minutes of GTS action the Super GT cars joined the track and things got rather busy.

Unfortunately for Villois Racing Max Wiser came to a halt on the grass just before the final corner because of a mechanical failure.
Pierre Kaffer was the quickest driver out in the Super GT field and as the chequered flag came out he had secured pole position for AF Corse in 2:21.315. In the GTS category it was Christopher Bruck with a time of 2:22.745 in the Dodge Viper GT3

On the in-lap the yellow flag was shown in turn 13 because Luca Moro went off.

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat // Manthey Racing Porsche 997 GT3 R

Qualifying 2 Saturday 26-06-2010

The second qualifying session was also driven in perfect weather conditions – warm and dry.

The second session was rather uneventful until the session was red flagged six minutes before the end when Alvaro Barba was hit by Frédéric Makowiecki and crashed at Les Combes. The session was halted until the marshals cleared the track and the session was restarted with just over six minutes to go.

At the end of the second session there were no big surprises in both the SuperGT and GTS class, although Marc Lieb’s time was quick enough to earn Manthey Racing a front row start.

In SuperGT Richard Lietz took pole with the Autorlando Sport Porsche 997 GT3 RSR posting a 2:21.800.
In GTS Marc Lieb took pole with the Porsche 997 GT3 R, just behind Lietz, in 2:22.407.

With the two classes so close together on the grid the races this weekend look rather promising.

(Text: Tom Haex / Images: Marcel ten Caat)