Spa Friday Notebook

***Matteo Cairoli claimed the first overall CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa pole for a non-Pro car in a decade. The last time it happened was in 2013 when Stefan Muecke led a front-row lockout for Pro-Am teams in Beechdean AMR’s Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.

***Huber Motorsport team principal Reinhard Huber said that the Porsche squad was unsure if it would translate its strong wet-weather pace in qualifying over to the dry Superpole session. Recalling Thursday’s rain-affected Qualifying 4 that Cairoli led, Huber told Sportscar365: “When Matteo jumped out, we wished for rain only today!”

***Porsche’s Vice President of Motorsport Thomas Laudenbach hopes that drivers will be able to control the number of incidents in the opening phase of the race: “I think looking at the past years, it would be good that everybody keeps in mind that we race 24 hours,” he told Sportscar365. “Take the start carefully, bring the cars through the first hours and then we’ll see.”

***After having the pole-sitting car the last four years, Mercedes-AMG saw its best entry qualify only 16th in the hands of Maro Engel. “We knew coming here that it would be quite tough, and so far the weekend has proved to be that way,” the Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing driver told Sportscar365.

***Gottfried Grasser indicated that the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2’s improved driveability over its predecessor played a role in Fabrizio Crestani’s seventh in Superpole. “I think this is the key why the Silver drivers got so quickly on pace on this car,” he said. “The car is so trustful to drive and so much better and not so edgy than the old one. The old one was more a car for the perfect Pro driver. The new car is much more comfortable to drive.”

***Alexey Nesov claimed his second Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series win of the year on Friday evening to earn five GTWC Europe Silver Cup teams’ points for Madpanda Motorsport. Nesov narrowly beat Rutronik Racing’s Laurin Heinrich, who claimed five real-world points for being the top Pro finisher, by half a second. Cesar Gazeau completed the podium for Boutsen VDS. Results

***The Maserati GT2, which was unveiled at Spa on Friday, is set to make its debut in the Fanatec GT2 European Series finale at Paul Ricard which means that an outing in Stephane Ratel’s planned GT2 showcase at Indianapolis the weekend before appears unlikely.

***Head of Maserati Corse Giovanni Sgro said that the race debut is set to be made with customer teams, although the number of cars is yet to be determined. “It’s still not defined yet, because the interest level is very high and we’re in the commercial process,” he told Sportscar365.

***The Maserati GT2 previously had ‘MC20’ in its name, in reference to the base road car on which the vehicle was developed. Sgro acknowledged the change, saying: “We wanted to make it more streamlined and just make reference to the Maserati GT2.”

***The decision for Audi to have most of its customer entries located in the lower paddock and pit lane was made to have everyone in “one camp” according to the manufacturer’s head of customer racing. “To ask for ten pits in the Formula 1 pits was not possible,” Chris Reinke told Sportscar365.

***Reinke identified pros and cons to the pit locations: “Obviously, your tires don’t cool down that much because you’re closer to pit exit but if you come in with a broken car, you have a longer way to your pit. We opted for the first time because we wanted to have all cars together.”

***AF Corse is still running a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 for its Pro-Am entry after a “little delay in the delivery” according to team manager Bernardo Serra. It is now set to be replaced by a Ferrari 296 GT3 in time for the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup round at Misano.

***Chaz Mostert, who is making his 24H Spa debut with SunEnergy1 Racing, is hopeful of contesting additional one-off international enduros in the future. The Australian Supercars ace won the 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona in a GTLM class BMW M8 GTE and also previously took part in the California 8 Hour as part of his association with the German manufacturer at the time.

***Mostert told Sportscar365: “For sure I’d love to do some more overseas racing. I’m pretty keen on just the milestone events. It’s hard to commit to a series when I race full-time in Australia but I love these endurance-type events. I love 12, 24-hour racing. It’s something I’ve done a little bit of but every time is a great experience doing it. I’d love doing some more but I do love being home as well. A couple of events a year is enough for my schedule.”

***Adam Osieka took part in Friday evening’s warmup session after receiving the late call-up to drive for SunEnergy1 Racing in place of Liam Talbot, who was due to stand in for the injured Kenny Habul.

***K-PAX Racing has ruled out contesting the Indianapolis 8 Hour in October, with program manager Darren Law explaining to Sportscar365 that its entire team kit is in Europe for its GTWC Europe Endurance Cup campaign. “Everything is in Europe except a couple of [U.S.] semi-trucks! We’re fully committed to Europe.”

***More than half of the team are U.S.-based, which has made this year’s endeavor a logistical challenge. “It’s a big operation to go back and forth,” said Law. “It’s not just the racing and the prep work. We have to come in five, six days early and get everything prepped and then we stay a couple of days after. It’s not just the race weekends that we’re here. The guys are putting in some time to make this work.”

***Four drivers are pulling double duty between the main race and the GT4 European Series powered by Rafa Racing Club. In addition to Bullitt Racing’s Ruben del Sarte and Walkenhorst Motorsport’s Bailey Voisin, three out of the four drivers in the No. 24 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R — Niki Leutwiler, Ivan Jacoma and Alex Fontana — are driving for the Porsche Centre Ticino team.

***Other notable drivers in the support series are IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge competitor Taylor Hagler and Oskar Kristensen, the nephew of nine-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen.

***Although there are 70 cars in the 24-hour race, there is one vacant garage on the F1 pit straight that has since been occupied by an Audi R8 LMS ultra. The car is owned by Comtoyou Racing team owner Jean-Michel Baert and was previously run by WRT.

***Robert Shwartzman described AF Corse’s front-row start as a “very positive thing” after co-driver Alessio Rovera qualified the No. 51 Ferrari 296 GT3 second. “Ale did a very good job by putting it in the front row, which is super important because there are 70 cars on the track,” Shwartzman said. “You want to be in the front to avoid the mess.”

***Heavy traffic played a “clear, important role” in the No. 71 Ferrari only qualifying 47th, according to the manufacturer’s head of endurance race cars Ferdinando Cannizzo. “There was so much rain and spray, the cars in the traffic were not able to make any lap times,” he told Sportscar365. “Clearly the fact that we have a lot of Bronze drivers in front is due to the fact that they ran the first quali in dry conditions, so the average was beneficial for them.”

***It is unclear if AF Corse will field Pro-class Ferraris in either of the remaining IGTC rounds, considering Ferrari is not signed up as a points-paying manufacturer. Team principal Amato Ferrari indicated that the Gulf 12 Hours could be an option, while Cannizzo said that Ferrari is “open to exploring all the opportunities” for top-level GT race appearances beyond GTWC Europe.

John Dagys and Davey Euwema contributed to this report