FIA GT4 Cup - Nurburgring - Qualifying

The new Lotus Evora Cup/GT4 will make its racing debut this weekend at the Nurburgring in the hands of Ollie Hancock.
 
The Evora has been entered in the “Invitation” category of the European GT4 Championship as part of its development programme prior to a full GT4 championship assault in 2011.

And there will be four other Lotuses (or Loti!) alongside the Evora on the entry with a quartet of Lotus 2-Eleven GT4 race cars, two of which will be entered in the Lotus Motorsport colour scheme and run by NFS Racing Dubai. The other two cars will be run by Team Scuderia Giudici, who currently lead the GT4 “Super Sports” Championship category.

Qualifying

Under a very threatening sky, Ollie Hancock waited until the very last minute to upset the GT4 European Cup order in the first qualifying session of the German round of the GT4 European Cup.

The brand new Lotus Evora GT4 set pole for the first GT4 race of the weekend where the FIA runners are joined on the grid by the Dutch GT4 Championship field, which includes another debutant, the Chevrolet Camaro GT4. 

Both Paul Meijer in his Aston and Ginetta driver Matt Nicoll-Jones were already in the pitlane, keeping an eye on the darkening clouds, when the Lotus moved from third to first in the ranking. Behind the top 3, Michael Mallock and German home driver Wolfgang Weber offered Aston Martin a fourth and fifth on the grid, with Carl Breeze closing the top 6 in the LNT Ginetta he shares with Frank Wrathall. Best Nissan driver was Alex Buncombe, who is celebrating his 29th birthday today. 
 
In Supersports Gianni Guidici set pole in his Lotus 2Eleven, making it 2 on 2 for the legendary British make. Julian Griffin completed the Lotus success in 2nd, while Kevin Veltman made it into third in the Ladas KTM.

Qualifying Times - Session 1

1 22  GT4 Hancock Lotus Evora GT4 2:10.843
2 318  DGTP van der Ende/Huisman BMW M3 GT4 2:11.122
3 7  GT4 Meijer Aston Martin GT4 2:11.302  
4 365  DGTP Zumbrink/van Dongen Corvette C6 2:11.550
5 9  GT4 Nicoll-Jones Ginetta G50 2:11.574
6 301  DGTP Frankenhout/Kool Porsche 997 GT4 2:11.743
7 32  GT4 Mallock Aston Martin GT4 2:12.026
8 307  DGTP de Groot BMW M3 GT4 2:12.309
9 24  GT4 Weber Aston Martin GT4 2:12.366
10 319  DGTP Buijs/Verschuur Chevrolet Camaro 2:12.384
11 303  DGTP Bastiaans/Harkema Porsche 997 GT4 2:12.536
12 30  GT4 Breeze/Wrathall Ginetta G50 2:12.780
13 308  DGTP Knap BMW M3 GT4 2:12.851
14 315  DGTP Catsburg/Engel Ginetta G50 2:12.902
15 321  DGTP Molenaar/van der Hoek Chevrolet Camaro 2:13.196
16 322  DGTP Verheul Aston Martin GT4 2:13.611
17 1  GT4 Ordonez/Buncombe Nissan 370Z 2:14.320
18 211  GT4 Guidici Lotus 2Eleven 2:14.335
19 213  GT4 Griffiths Lotus 2Eleven 2:14.421
20 304  DGTP Koster/Sanders Porsche 997 GT4 2:14.863
21 100  GT4 Veltman/Ladas KTM X-Bow 2:15.550
22 334  DGTL Stox/Kamphues BMW M3 GT4 2:15.743
23 305  DGTL Kroes/Bakke Porsche 997 GT4 2:15.916
24 363  DGTL van Putten/van den Heuvel Corvette C6 2:15.954
25 2  GT4 Tresson/Barff Nissan 370Z 2:15.969
26 214  GT4 Gaillard Lotus 2Eleven 2:16.348
27 19  GT4 Gagliardini/Pittori Porsche Cayman 2:16.504
28 4  GT4 Al Masaood Aston Martin GT4 2:18.477
29 364  DGTL van der Kolk Corvette C6 2:19.318
30 3  GT4 Charles Aston Martin GT4 2:20.401
31 212  GT4 Fumagalli Lotus 2Eleven 2:21.343
32 306  DGTL Wilschut/Verburg Porsche 997 GT4 2:34.650

Session 2
 
Still no rain for the 2nd session and Rhesus Aston driver Paul Meijer set things right, with his 5th pole-position of the season, while Matt Nicoll-Jones and Ollie Hancock made it three different manufacturers in the top-3 with their Ginetta G50 and Lotus Evora. Michael Mallock and Lucas Ordonez completed the top-5.
 
In Supersports running order of the top-3 was Julian Griffin, Frédéric Gaillard and Gianni Giudici, all in Lotus 2Eleven. 
 
Qualifying Times - Session 2

1 7  GT4 Meijer Aston Martin GT4 2:10.251  
2 307  DGTP de Groot BMW M3 GT4 2:11.058  
3 9  GT4 Nicoll-Jones Ginetta G50 2:11.083  
4 365  DGTP Zumbrink/van Dongen Corvette C6 2:11.252  
5 318  DGTP van der Ende/Huisman BMW M3 GT4 2:11.266  
6 22  GT4 Hancock Lotus Evora GT4 2:11.462  
7 321  DGTP Molenaar/van der Hoek Chevrolet Camaro 2:11.665  
8 32  GT4 Mallock Aston Martin GT4 2:11.885  
9 1  GT4 Ordonez/Buncombe Nissan 370Z 2:11.993
10 308  DGTP Knap BMW M3 GT4 2:12.096
11 24  GT4 Weber Aston Martin GT4 2:12.297  
12 322  DGTP Verheul Aston Martin GT4 2:12.485  
13 2  GT4 Tresson/Barff Nissan 370Z 2:13.077  
14 301  DGTP Frankenhout/Kool Porsche 997 GT4 2:13.109
15 30  GT4 Breeze/Wrathall Ginetta G50 2:13.239
16 315  DGTP Catsburg/Engel Ginetta G50 2:13.320
17 303  DGTP Bastiaans/Harkema Porsche 997 GT4 2:13.332
18 213  GT4 Griffiths Lotus 2Eleven 2:13.391
19 304  DGTP Koster/Sanders Porsche 997 GT4 2:14.017
20 214  GT4 Gaillard Lotus 2Eleven 2:14.114
21 211  GT4 Guidici Lotus 2Eleven 2:14.226
22 363  DGTL van Putten/van den Heuvel Corvette C6 2:14.526
23 364  DGTL van der Kolk Corvette C6 2:14.790
24 4  GT4 Al Masaood Aston Martin GT4 2:14.862
25 334  DGTL Stox/Kamphues BMW M3 GT4 2:14.877
26 319  DGTP Buijs/Verschuur Chevrolet Camaro 2:15.786
27 19  GT4 Gagliardini/Pittori Porsche Cayman 2:17.441
28 305  DGTL Kroes/Bakker Porsche 997 GT4 2:17.655
29 3  GT4 Charles Aston Martin GT4 2:18.677
30 212  GT4 Fumagalli Lotus 2Eleven 2:18.800
31 100  GT4 Veltman / Ladas KTM X-Bow 2:19.414
32 28  GT4 Bauer Aston Martin GT4 2:25.553

Pictures copyright to and courtesy of Evers Media