Kessel Racing Claims Gulf 12H Pole

Kessel Racing secured pole position for the sixth running of the Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi. The defending champions were fastest in qualifying, ahead of tomorrows two-part endurance race.



Driving the No. 11 Ferrari 488 GT3, Michael Broniszewski, Giacomo Piccini and Davide Rigon set a combined average lap time of 2:09.249, 0.111s faster than the combined average of the No. 24 Graff Ligier JS P3 of Eric Trouillet, Fabrice Rossello and Alexandre Cougnaud.

Graff’s second car, the No. 5 of James Winslow, Gregory Taylor and Neale Muston qualified in third place, it combined average just 0.031s slower than the No.24 sister car. It was however demoted to fifth, after its fastest Q3 lap time was deleted.

After two qualifying runs the No. 16 GP Extreme Renault RS01 of Nicky Pastorelli and Stuart Hall was on provisional pole, but teammate Jordan Grogor’s fastest time in the third part of qualifying wasn’t enough to keep it there. GP Extreme will start the race from third place.

The No. 88 Dragon Racing of Nic Minassian, Rob Barff and Matt Griffin will line up fourth on the grid, ahead of the No. 5 Graff Ligier and the two United Autosports Ligiers. 

A last-lap improvement means the No. 22 car of Jim McGuire, Matt Keegan, Nico Rondet and Stefan Johansson will start ahead of the No. 23 of Richard Meins, Shaun Lynn and Alex Lynn.

In the GTX class for GT4 cars Matt George set the fastest lap in the No. 44 Generation AMR Superracing Aston Martin Vantage GT4, but in the third and final part of qualifying it was the No. 50 Scuderia Villorba Corse Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4 of Patrick Zamparini, Piotr Chodzen and Antoni Chodzen that secured the class pole.

The first six-hour part of the Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina Circuit will start tomorrow at 9.30am. Part two will start at 5.45pm local time.

RESULTS: Qualifying