Winkelhock Claims 24H Sebring Pole

Photo: 24H Series/Creventic

Markus Winkelhock stormed to the overall pole for this afternoon’s Hankook 24 Hours of Sebring, putting Rutronik Racing by TECE on the top of the time sheets.

The Audi Sport factory driver reeled off a best lap of 2:01.627 in his No. 18 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo to edge out Charles Espenlaub’s CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo by 1.139 seconds.

It marked Rutronik’s first pole in 24H Series competition.

Winkelhock will be sharing driving duties of the Audi with Michael Doppelmayr, Elia Erhart and Swen Herberger.

Robert Renauer was third quickest in the No. 91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R, meanwhile.

The No. 710 Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo of Kenton Koch took GTX pole honors while the North American debuting BMW M4 GT3 — running unclassified — was the seventh quickest time in the hands of James Clay.

GT4 class pole honors went to the No. 438 ST Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Nick Wittmer.

The No. 112 Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR DSG was quickest of the TCR class competitors.

Twenty-three of the 24 entries turned laps in the 30-minute session which came immediately after a 2.5-hour practice session amid the condensed event schedule.

The Hankook 24H Sebring gets underway at 5 p.m. ET with live coverage on the 24H Series YouTube page with commentary from Radio Show Limited.

RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John