GTWC | Brands Hatch, Pre-Qualifying: Mercedes always on top

Mercedes confirmed its great form at Brands Hatch, where Maro Engel gave the star its second smile of the day by standing out in the Pre-Qualifying of this first GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup event of the season.

The German, who shares the wheel of the AMG #48 prepared by Winward Racing with Lucas Auer, stopped the clock at 1’23″357 early on, without then giving up the lead, in a session without interruptions and with the sun fighting against the clouds to make its way into the English sky.

In the end, the closest to the top is the McLaren #159 of Goethe/Gamble (Garage 59) at just over a tenth of a gap, while the two ‘terrible kids’ of AF Corse – Donno/Fleming – place third overall with the Ferrari 296 #71 and still achieved first place in the Silver Cup Class, keeping a good group of PRO crews behind them.

Among these, in the Top5 we have the Mercedes #9 of Boutsen VDS who with Gotz/Gounon had finished in front in the morning Free Practice, and the Aston Martin #7 of Drudi/Baert (Comtoyou Racing), rising in positions compared to today’s first session .

At Emil Frey Racing some interventions were necessary on the front part of the 296 to modify the set-up and in the end Green/Lappalainen placed the #14 Ferrari sixth and their companions Altoè/Vermeulen the #69 eighth.

Between them the BMW #32 of Team WRT slips into the hands of Weerts/Vanthoor with almost half a second of delay from the top, while the #46 of Martin/Rossi is ninth, driven for most of the time by the Belgian who had not succeeded to lap this morning due to Valentino going off the track.

The Top10 is completed by the Ferrari #51 of Yoluç/Eastwood (Racing Team Turkey-AF Corse) which is the fastest in the Gold Cup Class, where the second time is taken by the Audi #25 of Evrard/Magnus (Saintéloc Racing) and the third was the #111 of Legeret/Gachet (CSA Racing), keeping behind that of Hofer/Engstler (#6 Team Engstler by One Group).

In the Silver Cup there was a one-two for Ferrari AF Corse because in second place was the 296 #52 of Machiels/Hudspeth, third was the Mercedes #10 of Panis/Gazeau (Boutsen VDS) and fourth was the BMW #30 of Williams/ De Haan (Team WRT).

In the general classification, the best Audi remains the #99 of Tresor Attempto Racing driven by Aka/Feller, eleventh on the list; final thrill for the #88 of Ferrari/Haase which skidded at the exit of the ‘Dingle Dell’ and managed to avoid impact with the barriers at the following ‘Sheene’ corner by a whisker.

Porsche still 22nd with the #96 of Muller/Niederhauser (Rutronik Racing), Paverud/Kell finished in 24th place with the #18 Lamborghini of GSM.

The two Qualifying sessions to establish the starting lineups for Race 1 and 2 on Sunday will be held starting from 5.10pm Italian time.