McLaren fastest in Pre Qualy/24 H. Spa.

McLaren fastest in Pre Qualy/24 H. Spa.

With the afternoon sun still shining and temperature warm at the Circuit de Spa Francorchamps, Pre-Qualifying was underway. With the Total 24 Hours of Spa looming, the cars were keen to leave the pits quickly.

It was again the PRO-AM teams who saw the top spot of the sheets. The No. 88 Von Ryan Racing McLaren MP4-12C of British line up Robert Barff, Chris Goddwin, Roger Wills and the Portuguese Alvaro Parente set the pace with a 2.21.775.

It was another McLaren in second, ASM Team’s No. 47 car of Portuguese Pedro Lamy, Luis Silva, Ricardo Espirito Santo Bravo and Swiss Karim Ojjeh set a time of 2.21.775.

Third was taken by the No. 2 Audi Sport Team WRT R8 of Marco Bonanomi (ITA), Edward Sandström (SWE) and Laurens Vanthoor (BEL). The trio managed a time of 2.22.063.

The remainder of the PRO class slotted themselves in behind, with the No. 3 BMW Z4 of Markus Palttala (FIN), Bas Leinders (BEL), Maxime Martin (BEL) in fourth with a 2.22.282 and the No. 40 Audi R8 of Grégory Guilvert (FRA), Dino Lunardi (FRA) and Filippe Albuquerque (POR) posting a 2.22.496.

Third in class for the PRO-AM class was the No. 24 Blancpain – Reiter Lamborghini of Marc Hayek (CHE), Peter Kox (NDL), Jos Menten (NDL) and Albert von Thurn und Taxi (DEU); setting a time of 2.22.710.

An impressive gap was seen in the Gentlemen Class. The No. 73 Ferrari 430 Scuderia of Paolo Andreasi (VEN), Pablo Paladino (VEN), Beniamino Caccia (CHE) and Giacomo Piccini (ITA) set a time of 2.24.082, a whole four seconds quicker than the next quickest in class, the No. 58 Porsche 911.

The No. 58 Porsche of Frenchmen Daniel Desbrueres, Jean-Luc Blanchemain, Pascal Muller and Christian Kelders (BEL) set a time of 2.27.947.

The quickest Cup Class car was the No. 32 Porsche of Frenchmen Matthier Vaxivière, Jean-Louis Alloin, Jérémy Alloin and Alain Ferté, with a time of 2.30.405.

Closely following second in class was the No. 87 RMS car of Swiss Manuel Nicolaïdis, Fabio Spirgi, Richard Feller and Frenchman Olivier Baron setting a 2.31.993. In third was partner car No. 86 of Frenchmen David Loger, Eric Mouez, David Loger and Thierry Stepec with a 2.34.020.