FIA GT3, Zandvoort - Qualifying Report

Dominik Baumann and Christopher Haase were the fastest drivers in the two qualifying sessions at Zandvoort this morning. Qualifying finished 40 minutes later than planned after a heavy shunt in the first part of qualifying.

Qualifying 1 began under clear skies. The two  Heico Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of Baumann and Frankenhout were very quick right from the word go and were first and second fastest when the #8 Team LMP Aston Martin DBRS9 grinded to a halt at turn 6 and the red flags came out. An oil pressure problem was reported by the team - but a rather roasted back-end of the Aston indicated more serious problems. Just before the red flag came out Paul van Splunteren moved his Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R into third place.

The session was restarted after a couple of minutes but not for long as Mikko Eskelinen crashed his Ford GT at the Slotemaker-corner. Eskelinen slammed into the armco barrier, resulting in severe damage to both his car and the barrier. The Finn got out of his car, which looked beyond immediate repair with the right rear and the complete front ripped off.

Qualifying 1 was not restarted as the armco needed replacing as well - which would take quite a while.

With the two Heico Motorsports cars having received a 10-place grid penalty for passing under red flags in practice yesterday the #1 Porsche inherited the pole position, which means Paul van Splunteren will start his home race from first place.

After the armco had been replaced Qualifying 2 got underway - 40 minutes later than initially planned. Von Thurn und Taxis was the first to put in a fast lap, but several cars managed to improve.

Shortly after Von Thurn und Taxis moved up into first again he went wide - and moments later the #45 of Patrick Hirsch spun coming out of the Gerlach-corner. Fortunately the Heico driver stayed clear of the wall and continued. Not being troubled it was Christopher Haase who then posted the fastest lap, a 1:38.920. On his next attempt he had to avoid a slower Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3 and Haase was unable to improve. He returned to the pit on the next time by. Stefan Rosina in the #11 Gravity Charouz Racing Mercedes was second.

Henry Zumbrink parked his Lamborghini at the Arie Luyendijk-corner, briefly bringing out the yellow flags, just as Francesco Castellacci put his AF Corse Ferrari in between the two Faster Racing by DB Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3.

In the remaining minutes only Thomas Jäger managed to improve his position and moved up into fourth place, behind team mate Mike Parisy. The lap time set by Haase was not improved, resulting in a pole position for the #33 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS.

The first race of the weekend is set to start at 3.45 pm this afternoon.

MtC