Marciello Quickest in Wet Zandvoort Pre-Qualifying

Raffaele Marciello beat Vincenzo Sospiri Racing’s Andrea Caldarelli to lead a rain-affected Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup Pre-Qualifying session at Zandvoort.

Marciello reeled off a best lap of 1:43.625 aboard the championship-leading No. 88 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to outpace Caldarelli by 0.409 seconds.

Afternoon running at the Dutch circuit took place under wet conditions, which was reflected by Marciello’s best effort being significantly slower than the 1:34.937 posted by Lucas Legeret in Free Practice on Friday morning.

Caldarelli came close to beating the Mercedes to the fastest time, with the No. 60 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 leaping ahead of Marciello’s previous quickest time by posting a 1:44.034 late in the session.

However, another improvement from the No. 88 car left Caldarelli second, with Jordan Love piloting the No. 77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes to third overall with a last-gasp flyer.

Love led Silver Cup as a result and dropped the No. 40 Tresor Orange 1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Mattia Drudi to fourth place. Maxime Martin rounded out the top five for Team WRT.

Frederic Vervisch picked up sixth in the No. 12 Comtoyou Racing Audi, while a late improvement saw the No. 44 CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R of Ayhancan Guven end the session in seventh.

A trio of Audis completed the top ten, with Christopher Haase and the No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing machine of Lorenzo Patrese ahead of Gilles Magnus, who went quickest in Gold Cup aboard the No. 21 car.

Qualifying for the opening race of the weekend kicks off Saturday at 9:35 a.m. CEST (3:35 a.m. EDT), with live coverage on the GT World YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Pre-Qualifying