FIA GT3, Zolder - Qualifying

Qualifying 1

Mathias Beche scored the first pole of the season for the Belgian Marc VDS Racing Team with a lap time of 1:32.207 in the Ford GT, 0.147s faster than the Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS of Belgian driver Stephane Lemeret. 

The 20-minute session was interrupted by a red flag with nine minutes remaining after a collision between the #4 Team Rosberg Audi of Gregoire Demoustier and the #76 Need for Speed by Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 of Patrick Soderlund. 

The restart was delayed to recover the two cars and repair the barriers.  Stephane Lemeret was heading the times before Beche did a flying lap with just four minutes to go to take the pole position.  Jerome Thiry put the Muehlner Motorsport Porsche on the second row of tomorrow morning's grid alongside the Prospeed Competition Porsche of Paul van Splunteren.

Row three is headed by newly crowned FIA GT3 European Champion Christian Hohenadel with Soderlund's time before the crash good enough to start in P6.

Round 11 of the 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship will get underway at 10:35 (local time) on Sunday morning.

Mathias Beche - #98 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT

"I'm still learning the car, it is only my second race with the team and I'm not used to GT cars, so I'm really happy to make it onto pole.  I didn't know the track here at Zolder, so I'm happy to get pole on a Belgian track, which is the home track for the team.  The delay didn't help because when you stop for 15-minutes it's not that good for the tyres but I finished with this pole, that is good for the team and I'm very for everybody. The weather is good and everybody told me it woudl rain but I don't see any rain, so that is good for me."

Stephane Lemeret - #3 Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS

"I'm very disappointed not to be on pole position because I was P1 for most of the session before the restart but I know Mathias from Formula Le Mans and he is really fast, so to be second behind him isn't so bad. For me this is a good start with Team Rosberg as this is my first race with them, I hadn't met them before Thursday, so a front row start in my first race is very good."

Jerome Thiry - #12 Muehlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3-R

"It was a very good session.  I raced with the team in the Spa 24-Hours and this is wonderful to be so high up on the grid in my first experience of this level of racing."

Qualifying 2

2009 FIA GT3 European Team Champions Hexis AMR are on course for a good end to the 2010 season after Frederic Makowiecki converted his Free Practice pace into the first pole position of the season for the Hexis AMR Aston Martin DBRS9. 

In a slightly shortened qualifying session due to the earlier accident in Round 11 qualifying new GT3 Champion Daniel Keilwitz was the early pace setter in the Callaway Corvette but feel back down the order as more cars joined the fray. 

The #11 Muehlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3-R of Raymond Narac held the top spot for most of the first half of the session before being surpassed by Maxime Martin in the #99 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT, the Belgian driver looking to give his team a double pole on their home track.  However Frederic Makowiecki had other ideas and nine minutes from the chequered flag went two tenths quicker to secure the top spot for the final race of 2010.  Maxime Martin held onto the second front row position, with Marco Holzer going one place better than his teammate in the earlier session to secure 3rd place in the Prospeed Competition Porsche.

The final round of the 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship gets underway at 16:05 (local).

Frederic Makowiecki - #1 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DBRS9

"It is very important to do this pole position because we've had a poor season and the team have worked very hard. Now we can finish well and I am very happy to do this pole and we have a good set up to do a good race tomorrow and hopefully finish on the podium. The Aston is very quick on this track and this good weather really helps us."

Maxime Martin - #99 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT

"This is very good for the team here in Belgium especialy after starting second in Portimao and now second here.  I hope I will be able to go one better and get a pole position next year. The team did  good job and this is the result, we just need to do another good job tomorrow in the races."

Marco Holzer - #61 Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3-R

"It is important to be in front of the Corvette as Paul and I are fighting for second position in the championship. The Graff Corvette is in P14 and Paul also did a fantastic job to get P4 in his qualifying session.  I'm really looking forward to tomorrow."