TFT Mercedes-AMG on Pole for 24H Barcelona

TFT Racing will start the Michelin 24H Barcelona from pole position after its Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, spearheaded by factory driver Maro Engel, outpaced Sainteloc Junior Team and Proton Huber Competition in qualifying.

The No. 28 car, piloted by Engel, Benjamin Paque and Jordan Boisson, put together a combined average time of 1:41.101 across the three stages of qualifying to take pole. Patrick Charlaix completes the lineup for the race.

Engel’s time of 1:40.622, the fastest individual lap across all sessions, helped pushed TFT’s advantage over the No. 18 Sainteloc Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Stephane Tribaudini, Elia Erhart, Pierre Kaffer, Ernst Inderbitzin and Michael Doppelmayr to 0.479 seconds.

Championship leaders Proton Huber, with its No. 73 Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Klaus Bachler, Constantin Dressler, Manuel Lauck and Joerg Dreisow, rounded out the top three ahead of the fourth-placed No. 93 RedAnt Racing Mercedes-AMG.

Scuderia Praha Racing’s No. 56 Ferrari 296 GT3 completed the top five, while Hofor Racing picked up GT3-Am pole in sixth overall with its No. 11 Mercedes-AMG with Alexander Prinz, Torsten Kratz, Maximilian Partl, Chantal Prinz and Michael Kroll at the wheel.

GT4 pole position was captured by the No. 488 NM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Jorge Belloc Ruiz, Manel Lao Cornago, Brandon Lee Oxley and Keith Gatehouse.

The Spanish squad’s time of 1:51.092 was nearly two full seconds faster than the second-placed No. 427 Team Sorg Rennsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS, with the No. 421 Venture Mercedes-AMG third in class.

The 24H Barcelona kicks off at 12:00 p.m CEST (6 a.m. EST) with live coverage on the Creventic Motorsports GT YouTube channel.