AF Corse Tops GTE Qualifying at Spa

AF Corse repeated its GTE-Pro and GTE-Am Silverstone qualifying sweep in today’s qualifying for the FIA WEC Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni will start the race from pole in GTE-Pro, setting a four-lap combined average of 2:32.338 in their No. 51 Ferrari F458 Italia.

On a drying track, Vilander and Bruni’s time was enough to keep the No. 97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 of Stefan Muecke and Darren Turner behind.

A last-lap attack by Turner saw the Aston Martin leap into second place, just 0.167 seconds shy of pole position.

The No. 92 Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR of Marco Holzer and Fred Makowiecki will start from the second row tomorrow, with an average four-lap time of 2:32.581, followed by the No. 91 Porsche of Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet in fourth.

Fifth quickest was the second of the Aston Martin Racing cars, driven by Fernando Rees and Alex MacDowall in qualifying. The No. 99 was half a second quicker than the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado and Davide Rigon.

Mirko Venturi gave AF Corse the GTE-Am pole in the dying seconds of the qualifying session.

Venturi’s last lap in the No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari pushed the No. 75 ProSpeed Competition Porsche down to second place, ahead of the No. 81 AF Corse Ferrari.

The only notable incident was the No. 90 8Star Motorsports Ferrari of Paolo Ruberti, who hit the barrier. Enzo Potolicchio returned the now duct-taped car to the track, eventually taking fifth in class.

The FIA WEC Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps gets underway Saturday at 2:30 p.m. local (8:30 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Qualifying