GT1 World, Portimao - Qualifying Report

AF Corse’s Toni Vilander and Enzo Ide secured an all-Ferrari front row for the fifth round of the FIA GT1 World Championship.

Even before Qualifying had started it became clear that all cars taking part in Q1 would proceed to the second session as the #8 Exim Bank Team China Porsche 997 GT3 R would not be able to take part. Bernhard Mühlner was quoted saying "the engine blew". In order to get teams out onto the track race control issued a message to the team that at least one timed lap was necessary to qualify. Only a handful of cars did more than two laps as a result.

Markus Winkelhock and Francesco Castellacci were the the quickest drivers in Q2. The Ferrari driver missed out on the fastest lap time by just 0.039s. Six cars dropped out after Q2, including the two Vita4One Racing Team BMW Z4 GT3s of Michael Bartels and Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof. After setting the second and sixth fastest lap times in morning practice yesterday the Vita4One cars finished Q2 in 11th and 13th place. Stef Dusseldorp was also unable to qualify his Hexis Racing McLaren for Q3 and he was joined by Laurens Vanthoor and Stefan Rosina. The #9 Exim Bank Team China Porsche was 14th and last.

Toni Vilander then dominated the third and final part of qualifying. The Finn lapped the 4.653m long Portuguese circuit in 1:44.730 and the other seven drivers were unable to match his time. Team mate Enzo Ide was second fastest, exactly nine tenths of a second behind the #3 Ferrari 458 Italia. The All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of Marc Basseng secured third place, just ahead of teammate Nicky Pastorelli.

Toni Vilander: "I am very happy to be in pole position. We tried to improve our car during the free practice sessions and the performance of the Ferrari over one lap is very good. I really enjoy the circuit and I think it suits my driving style. For the race we will have to see how we are against our rivals and what the drop-off on the tires will be."

Marc Basseng: "I am quite surprised to have our best qualifying result here in Portugal. It’s good for the two championships. During the hot midday our car was not so competitive yesterday, but it is good to be at the front fat the start today. In recent races we lost out because we started from further down the field."