HAAS RT on Pole for 12H Spa

HAAS RT led an Audi top-three lockout to claim pole position for the Hankook 12H Spa-Francorchamps, beating Sainteloc Junior Team and Scherer Sport PHX in a qualifying session that took place under changeable conditions.

The No. 21 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, run under the Antiguan flag but based out of Belgium and driven by Mathieu Detry, Stephane Perrin, Frederic Vervisch and Olivier Bertels, set an average time of 2:29.351, 0.834 seconds ahead of the Sainteloc Audi.

The No. 26 car, driven by Erwan Bastard, Paul Evrard and Antoine Doquin, completed the front row with Michael Doppelmayr, Pierre Kaffer, Elia Erhart and Swen Herberger third by 0.972 seconds.

Choosing the right tire compound at the beginning of the first 15-minute session proved challenging.

Many cars headed out on wet tires but returning to the pits not much later to switch to slicks as the track dried out, only for the rain to return later on.

The No. 27 Heart of Racing by SPS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Gray Newell, Ian James and Roman De Angelis qualified fourth, with the top five rounded out by the No. 34 Land Motorsport Audi piloted by Stefan Wieninger, Tim Mueller and Christopher Mies.

A pair of Type-992 Porsche 911 GT3 Rs, making their competitive 24H Series powered by Hankook debut, occupied the sixth and seventh grid slots.

Herberth Motorsport’s No. 91 car took sixth, partly thanks to Laurin Heinrich setting the fastest outright lap at 2:34.310. The German shares the Porsche with Daniel Allemann, Ralf Bohn. Alfred Renauer and Robert Renauer.

Modena Motorsports’ No. 16 car driven by Francis Tjian, John Shen, Benny Simonsen and Mathias Beche qualified seventh, with the top ten rounded out by the No. 909 Red Camel-Jordans.nl Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, Land Motorsport’s second Audi and Red Ant Racing.

The No. 444 Senkyr Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 of Tomas Erdelyi, Richard Gonda, Robert Senkyr and Petr Svantner took GT4 pole ahead of Lionspeed GP powered by SRS Team Sorg Rennsport and Atlas BX Motorsports.

The first half of the Hankook 12H Spa-Francorchamps kicks off on Saturday at 11.50 a.m. local time (5:50 a.m. ET)

RESULTS: Qualifying