McLaren On Pole For Gulf 12H

McLaren has claimed pole position for tomorrow’s Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina Circuit.

The No. 59 McLaren 650S GT3 of Rob Bell, Alvaro Parente and Kevin Estre recorded the best aggregate lap time of 2:10.753, which saw all three drivers record times around the F1 circuit.

Steve Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Davide Rigon will start the No. 3 AF Corse Ferrari in second, ending the session just 0.04 seconds behind the McLaren, which makes its race debut this weekend.

AF Corse’s Rigon, however, set the fastest overall lap in qualifying, a 2:09.950.

Abu Dhabi Racing by Black Falcon claimed the second row, with 2014 race winners Khaled Al Qubaisi, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Bernd Schneider beating their teammates Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haupt and Richard Muscat to third.

Fifth quickest on average was the No. 45 Avelon Formula Wolf GB08. However, due to the two-driver lineup, it will result in an eight-place grid penalty for the Italian CN car.

Kessel Racing’s No. 11 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 will therefore start from fifth on the grid, ahead of the No. 5 AF Corse Ferrari.

Fastest in the Gentleman class was the No. 99 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 of Liam Talbot, Jorge Lorenzo, Marco Zanuttini and Jacques Duyver.

Moto GP driver Lorenzo showed his skills by recording a 2:12.219 lap time, the quickest time of all four drivers in the car.

MRS GT-Racing, meanwhile, took the class pole in the Porsche Cup class. Christian Engelhart set the fastest lap in the No. 33 Porsche.

The fourth edition of the Gulf 12 Hours gets underway Saturday at 8:50 a.m. local time (Friday, 11:50 p.m. ET) with live streaming video and timing and scoring available on the series’ official Web site.

RESULTS: Qualifying