Reigning two-time FIA GT World Cup winner Raffaele Marciello claimed his third FIA GT World Cup qualifying success in as many editions, leading BMW stablemate Dries Vanthoor in front-row lockout for the Bavarian manufacturer.
The Italian racer who switched to BMW for 2024, having spent the bulk of his career with Mercedes-AMG, is set to start Saturday’s 12-lap qualification race from pole position, with his qualifying triumph being the first time his named appeared atop of the timing screens this weekend.
The younger of the two Vanthoor brothers came a close second aboard his M4 GT3, being only 0.053s down on the sister car with Marciello behind the wheel.
Third was, the best of the Mercedes-AMGs drivers, Maro Engel who was the early pace-setter in what was the first dry session of the event that also saw red flags on two occasions. The German had to abort his pole attempt following a red flag in the closing stages of the session following a massive crash of Luca Engstler at exit of the Mandarin corner.
The driver of the #8 Liqui Moly Team Engstler Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 remained conscious after the crash but was taken to a local hospital for precautionary checks.
FIA GT World Cup rookie Antonio Fuoco, making his Macau GP return having competed here in Formula 3 a decade ago, was the highest-ranked Ferrari driver aboard his AF Corse-operated 296 GT3.
The third row of the grid went to further two BMW drivers, August Farus who will have Sheldon van der Linder for company on the starting grid, with both being atop of the times at different stages of the session in which BMW looked like the car to have.
Seventh went to the newly-crowned FIA Hypercar World Endurance Drivers’ Champion Laurens Vanthoor who was the fastest driver from the six-car-strong Porsche effort, with his Absolut Racing team-mate Alessio Piciarello in eight, 0.6s down on the Belgian’s time.
The top ten was rounded out by the two Audi drivers, Ricard Feller and Christopher Haase.
One of the most decorated Macau racers, Edoardo Mortara, ended up down in 11th, having demonstrated strong pace in the closing stages of the sessions, but having to abort his flying lap due to Engstler’s crash that resulted in a red flag with four minutes remaining on the clock, after which the action was not resumed.
Porsche’s Laurin Heinrich crashed on out on his first flying lap going into the Lisboa corner, causing an early red lag. The IMSA SportsCar Championship’s GTD Pro class champion managed to limp back to the pits and after a hasty repair job was back on track with just over 13 minutes on the clock remaining to end up the session in 17th place.
Adderly Fong in the fan favourite Kuromi-themed Audi took part in qualifying after his participation was put into question following Friday’s FP2 crash that resulted in the car having to be rebuilt overnight. The Hong-Kongnes racer went on to qualify 19th.
Jules Gounon was another victim of the demanding circuit, putting his Craft-Bamboo Racing-run Mercedes-AMG into the wall at the Police corner (T15), destroying the front-left end of the car and having to limp back to the pits. As a result, the three-time Bathurst 12 Hours winner will start tomorrow’s Qualification Race from the back of the 23-car field. – www.fia.com
