Fleming Propels Garage 59 to Barcelona LMGT3 Pole

Tom Fleming scored his and Garage 59’s second pole of the FIA World Endurance Championship season in LMGT3 qualifying at Barcelona.

The FIA Silver-rated Briton returned to the Spanish venue after skipping Friday practice due to his double duties across both this weekend’s WEC fixture and GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup’s Portimao finale.

Taking over from Antares Au at the wheel of the No. 10 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, Fleming was the only driver in the Hyperpole shootout to break the 1:41 barrier as he posted a 1:40.933, the fastest lap of the weekend so far in the class.

That was enough to grab a second pole for himself, Au and Marvin Kirchhoefer after he bagged top spot in the opening round of the season at Imola.

Riccardo Pera was Fleming’s nearest competitor in the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, coming up 0.122 seconds short to bag a spot on the front row.

Third-fastest, and 0.465 seconds off the top spot, was the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Simon Mann, who had paced the standalone LMGT3 FP3 session earlier on Saturday with a best time of 1:41.696.

Completing the top five were the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Jonny Edgar, who is in a position to wrap up the drivers’ title with a race to spare this weekend, and Rui Andrade aboard the No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

The Fuji-winning No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO was sixth-fastest in the hands of Sean Gelael, ahead of the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3, the two Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 EVOs, No. 77 leading No. 88, and the No. 34 TF Sport Corvette that had topped the opening part of qualifying with Peter Dempsey driving.

Neither Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVOs made the Hyperpole cut, with the No. 27 car that lies second in the LMGT3 standings coming into this weekend ending up 18th and last with Ian James at the wheel in Q1.

Garage 59’s No. 58 McLaren was eliminated in the first part of qualifying, with Alexander West unable to do better than 16th.

RESULTS: Qualifying/Hyperpole