Marciello Claims Macau Pole in BMW Front Row Lockout

Photo: FIA

Raffaele Marciello has claimed pole for Saturday’s Qualifying Race at the FIA GT World Cup in Macau, leading a front-row lcokout for BMW.

Marciello, in the No. 1 Toro Racing by MCG BMW M4 GT3, reeled off a best lap of 2:16.509 to edge out fellow BMW runner Dries Vanthoor in the No. 32 Team WRT entry by 0.053 seconds.

It marked the fourth consecutive GT World Cup pole for the Swiss-flagged driver, who swept the entire weekend last year in his final outing with Mercedes-AMG.

The 30-minute session came to a dramatic end when Luca Engstler suffered a massive crash exiting Mandarin with four minutes to go.

The session did not resume as a result of a massive stretch of debris on the track.

Maro Engel, who was on a late flyer that could have been good enough for pole, qualified third in the No. 130 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, with Antonio Fuoco fourth in the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.

Former GT World Cup champion Augusto Farfus completed the top-five in the No. 89 KRC BMW, ahead of Sheldon van der Linde’s rebuilt No. 31 WRT BMW in sixth.

Laurens Vanthoor was quickest of the Porsches, placing seventh in the No. 25 Anbsolute Racing entry, ahead of teammate Alessio Picariello in eighth, after the two cars led the way in Thursday’s mixed-condition Free Practice 2 session.

Audi teammates Ricardo Feller and Christopher Haase completed the top-ten.

The session was halted early on for an accident by Macau rookie Laurin Heinrich, who drove his No. 88 Schumacher CLRT Porsche into the Turn 3 barriers to bring out a red flag.

Less than five minutes after the resumption of action, Jules Gounon slammed his No. 99 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG into the barriers, but limped the car to the pits to prevent another red.

Engstler’s massive accident, meanwhile, brought proceedings to an early end.

The German driver appears to have escaped serious injury, with Englstler having been taken to a local hospital for precautionary checks after complaining of knee pain, per a FIA spokesperson.

His Grasser Racing Team-run Lamborghini, however, is likely done for the weekend.

The 12-lap Qualifying Race is set for Saturday at 1:50 p.m. local time (12:50 a.m. ET) with live coverage on FIA’s YouTube channel featuring commentary from David Addison and Alan Hyde.

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