Photo: JEP/SRO
Garage 59 McLarens locked out the front row for the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season finale in Barcelona, with Adam Smalley, Louis Prette and Dean Macdonald securing pole position by the finest of margins.
The Gold Cup crew’s No. 58 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO was not the quickest car in any of the three sessions, but featured consistently near the top of the timesheets each time to earn pole by 0.001 seconds from the Pro class No. 59 entry of Joseph Loake, Marvin Kirchhoefer and Benjamin Goethe.
Loake had been second fastest in the opening session, with Smalley third, while in Q2 Kirchhoefer was fastest of all and Prette third.
That gave No. 59 the upper-hand into the decisive final session, but while Goethe could only manage ninth Macdonald steered No. 58 to fifth spot and overall pole position on the averages.
The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera, Vincent Abril and Ye Yifei paced Q1 in Rovera’s hands but will start third after Ye, standing in for Alessandro Pier Guidi this weekend, could only muster 18th in Q3.
The Ferrari will be joined on row two by the No. 17 Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which recovered from a disappointing Q1 session for Luca Stolz with strong turns for Jules Gounon and Fabian Schiller.
An outstanding session for Garage 59 was completed by its Silver Cup entry driven by James Baldwin, Guilherme Oliveira and Tom Fleming, who snared class pole in fifth overall.
Endurance Cup championship leaders Lucas Auer, Matteo Cairoli and Maro Engel will start sixth in their Winward-run No. 48 MANN-FILTER Mercedes-AMG, four places ahead of their main title rivals.
The Rutronik Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patric Niederhauser, Alessio Picariello and Sven Muller will line up tenth as the leading representative of the Weissach brand.
Sprint Cup champions Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts, the closest challengers to Engel and Auer in the overall GT World Challenge Europe points standings, struggled to 21st in the WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo they share with Ugo de Wilde.
Dennis Marschall went quickest in Q3 aboard the No. 74 Kessel Racing Ferrari, but the points-leading Bronze Cup entry he shares with Conrad Laursen and Dustin Blattner will start 26th in the field.
Their sister car, the No. 8 Kessel Ferrari, collected Bronze Cup pole and will start 23rd overall with Niccolò Schirò joined by Nicolò Rosi and David Fumanelli.
The three-hour race in Barcelona is scheduled for 3 p.m. CEST (9 a.m. EDT).
RESULTS: To follow
James Newbold (@James_Newbold) is a UK-based freelance motorsport journalist, formerly on the staff of Autosport.