GT1 World, Donington – Qualifying Report
Vanthoor Takes Pole For WRT

The early morning sun had been obscured by cloud cover as the first qualifying session (20 minutes) began at a cool and breezy Donington Park on Saturday morning, but rain was not in the forecast as things got underway at 09:36 (after a short delay caused by the preceding Ginetta GT5 qualifying session).

Ten of the 12 cars take to the track straight away – the two Hexis McLarens waiting patiently in the pitlane – and a power cut at that exact moment wipes out timing, TV and internet in the paddock. The session comes to an abrupt halt and there is a lengthy delay while power is restored. The lights come back on at 09.50 and the timing and TV screens flicker back into life five minutes later.

The new start time was set at 10:10 and engines burst into life once more at 10:08. The lights go green at 10:10 and eight cars leave the pitlane – the two McLarens again staying put, but this time joined by the #3 Ferrari, while the #32 WRT Audi is waiting in the garage.

The two Vita4One BMWs and the two Münnich Mercedes pit after one lap, leaving Peter Kox to set the first flying lap – 1:37.470 – in the #25 Reiter Lamborghini. Frank Stippler lowers the bar to 1:33.326 in the #33 Audi, but Kox improves to 1:32.426.

Laurent Groppi then goes top with a 1:32.426 in the #10 Sunred Ford GT, just as the two Hexis MP4-12Cs take to the track. Groppi went faster in the first two sectors on his next lap, but then threw it away with a spin at Goddards.

Stippler improved to 1:30.501 with 12 minutes remaining, with Marc Basseng six-tenths behind in the #38 Mercedes. The two BMWs were at this point eighth and ninth, but winding up the pace.

As the session entered its second half, the times continued to tumble. Basseng and Thomas Jäger took the two Mercs below the 1:30 barrier, but Stippler again went quicker – to 1:28.678. With seven minutes remaining, Alvaro Parente went second in the #2 McLaren with 1:28.777, but within seconds this time was only fifth-fastest; Fred Makowiecki now topping the times on 1:28.146 in the #1 Hexis McLaren.
An improvement for Parente saw the order McLaren (#1), McLaren (#2), Ferrari (#4), Ferrari (#3), Audi (#33), Mercedes (#37), Mercedes (#38), BMW (#18), Ford (#10), BMW (#17), Lamborghini.

The #32 Audi eventually joined in with about four minutes remaining, Adam Carroll completing the mandatory one timed lap before pitting in last place.

A last-gasp effort from Stippler spoilt the symmetry of the top four, his 1:28.350 splitting the McLarens. The session ended with Michael Bartels a second off Makowiecki’s best of 1:27.797, but two tenths ahead of championship rival Basseng.

The second session (15 minutes) began with all 12 cars taking to the track, with Stef Dusseldorp bringing up the rear in the #1 McLaren.

Mathias Lauda kicked things off this time with a 1:30.890 in the #17 BMW, but the four-second gap to Carroll in the #32 Audi in second suggested that the field was not yet on the pace; and a couple of minutes later Lauda had improved to 1:28.973 with Yelmer Buurman second in the #18 Z4 on 1:29.053. Stefan Rosina was third in the #25 Lamborghini on 1:29.746.

Buurman was going faster on his next lap, but made the same error as Groppi at Goddards and ended the lap in fourth. Carroll had gone top on 1:28.861, but Rosina improved to 1:28.779 to briefly lead.

Carroll then made a further improvement to 1:27.982, but Buurman had recovered his composure and was just 12 thousandths shy of the Audi. Markus Winkelhock, however, didn’t seem so composed, and a mistake with five minutes remaining saw a lurid spin at the Old Hairpin and left him a second and a half off the BMW’s pace and only eighth. Buurman then rubbed it in by going top with 1:27.982.

Lauda was third in the #17 Z4, before Rosina took that position with two minutes to go. Jäger was fifth and Dusseldorp sixth, but Winkelhock was in real trouble and a second spin left him down in tenth and out of the third qualifying session.

The four cars to miss out on the final ten minute push for pole were numbers 2, 10, 33 and 38; the unfortunate quartet being confined to their garages under parc fermé conditions.

The session began at 11:00, with Makowiecki waiting a minute before bringing the #1 Hexis McLaren out to play once more.

Laurens Vanthoor kicked things off with a 1:29.225 with just over six minutes to go (even as a message flashed up instructing the WRT Team Manager to attend Race Control after the session), but again we would have to wait another couple of minutes to see what the real pace would be.

Vanthoor again led after his third lap, this time on 1:28.591, from Jäger (1:28.845) and Kox (1:29.201), before Makowiecki went third quickest on 1:29.023. A 1:27.746 from Vanthoor a lap later kept the #32 at the top as Kox went second on 1:27.970. Bartels was only fifth, but speeding up.

With just under a minute to go, Vanthoor ended his sixth lap with a fastest S3 time, suggesting a final push to secure pole, but despite a failure to improve on his final lap the #1 spot was his. Makowiecki improved to second on his final lap, while Filip Salaquarda improved to fourth in the #3 AF Corse Ferrari. Bartels, however, had dropped to seventh by the flag.

The Qualifying Race would follow at 14:45.