13 Pro Cars to Miss Superpole After Rain-Affected Qualifying

A downpour of rain resulted in a jumbled qualifying order for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa that saw 13 of the Pro-class contenders fail to reach the Superpole shootout.

Only seven cars in the top category will contend for the overall pole position on Friday after entries from Bronze Cup, Gold Cup, Silver Cup and Pro-Am all made the top-20 cut.

The qualifying classification was set by the average times of each driver lineup. Crews containing a fourth driver took part in the opening 15-minute session before the three-driver entries — including all of the Pro runners — joined in during the second run.

The jumbling occurred due to the arrival of rain at the end of Qualifying 1 which meant that the four-driver lineups had the benefit of a much faster opening time.

Lap times were around two seconds slower in Q2, before the rain intensified and caused the lowest numbers to climb over the 2:30 mark.

At the end of four sessions, the Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R from Bronze Cup set the outright combined pace with Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm, Marco Seefried and Klaus Bachler producing an average time of 2:28.569.

Gold Cup team Optimum Motorsport was second with its McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, ahead of the No. 20 Huber Motorsport Porsche and the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

The highest-placed Pro entry was the Manthey EMA Porsche, which ranked seventh in the hands of Q2 pacesetter Julien Andlauer, Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre.

The only other Pro cars in the top 10, which even featured a Pro-Am entry, were the No. 999 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo from GruppeM Racing and the No. 40 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II from Audi Sport Tresor Orange 1.

AF Corse’s No. 51 Ferrari 296 GT3, Audi Sport Team Comtoyou, the Scherer Sport PHX Audi and the K-PAX Racing Lamborghini were the only other Pro cars to make it.

The two Team WRT BMWs qualified 21st and 22nd as the highest-placed entries to miss out on a shot at the overall pole.

Defending 24H Spa winner and reigning Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup champion Akkodis ASP will start from 23rd, meanwhile.

The factory-driven Iron Lynx Lamborghini only set two lap times and qualified 62nd overall, out of 69 cars that turned laps, after an incident during the second session.

Andrea Caldarelli moved to avoid a spinning Audi at Stavelot when he was struck by a BMW, believed to be the No. 32 WRT car.

Caldarelli told SRO Motorsports Group pit lane TV reporter Gemma Scott: “During my last lap, an Audi in front of me spun at Turn 15. I avoided and it’s a blind corner.

“I think a BMW from WRT hit me from the back. He was coming quite quickly and I think there’s something wrong with the power steering. I don’t know what to say, really. It was a crazy session. The conditions did not help.”

A total of seven cars from Bronze Cup, three from Silver Cup and two from Gold Cup are provisionally set to take part in Superpole, while Barwell Motorsport’s Pro-Am Lamborghini also advanced.

Teams from categories outside of Pro can nominate any driver to take part in the shootout.

The first and final sessions were interrupted by red flags caused by spins for the Modena Motorsport Porsche and the No. 79 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG.

GMG Racing by Car Collection Motorsport also hit trouble and its Porsche did not register any lap times after some of the front bodywork detached at La Source during the first session.

RESULTS: Qualifying (combined)