Gachet Beats Costa to Race 2 Pole in Damp Qualifying

Simon Gachet claimed Sainteloc Junior Team’s second overall pole of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup season by narrowly outpacing Albert Costa in rain-affected Sunday qualifying.

Gachet posted a best lap of 1:42.355 aboard the No. 26 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II to take pole away from Costa’s No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 in the closing seconds of the session.

Costa set a 1:42.585 shortly after the session was restarted following a red flag, triggered when Nicola Marinangeli became stranded in the gravel at Turn 5.

Several drivers struggled in wet conditions at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo after rain on Sunday morning, with Maximilian Paul running through the gravel and Akkodis ASP’s Eric Debard spinning before continuing.

Both Team WRT’s Maxime Martin and the No. 40 Tresor Orange 1 of Mattia Drudi each attempted to improve upon’s the Spaniard efforts as conditions improved, but it took a last-gasp flyer from Gachet to topple the No. 69 Ferrari by 0.230 seconds.

It marked the second time this season a Sainteloc Audi topped qualifying overall for a Sprint Cup round after Christopher Mies took pole for Race 2 at Brands Hatch.

Martin rounded out the top three aboard the No. 46 BMW M4 GT3, with Lorenzo Patrese jumping up to fourth place with a late improvement in the No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi to take Silver Cup pole.

Patrese leaped ahead of a pair of Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2s of Marcus Paverud and Maximilian Paul, who initially ran fourth and fifth with a pair of fast laps in the closing minutes.

Alain Valente picked up seventh place in the No. 77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, leading Boutsen VDS driver Aurelien Panis and the No. 25 Sainteloc Audi in the hands of Patric Niederhauser.

Drudi rounded out the top ten after running as high as third shortly after the restart.

The Italian and co-driver Ricardo Feller will start ahead of championship rivals Timur Boguslavskiy and Raffaele Marciello, as the No. 88 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes qualified 18th with Boguslavskiy at the wheel.

The second and final Sprint Cup race of the weekend is scheduled for 2 p.m. CEST (8 a.m. EDT) with live coverage on the GT World YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Qualifying 2