R-Motorsport Takes Second Consecutive Pole

Photo: SRO/Patrick Hecq

R-Motorsport secured its second Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup pole position in a row during Saturday morning’s qualifying session for the Paul Ricard 1000km.

Matthieu Vaxiviere, Jake Dennis and Nicki Thiim will start the series’ second-longest race from pole after winning the Silverstone race from pole two weeks ago.

The three drivers set an average lap time of 1:54.303 including a best time of 1:54.169 from Thiim in the third session in the No. 76 Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Garage 59 will start from second after a flying lap from Andrew Watson put the No. 58 McLaren 650S GT3 on top in Qualifying 1.

SMP Racing’s Ferrari 488 GT3 qualified in third while the No. 14 Emil Frey Lexus Racing entry will start from fourth. 

The best-placed Audi R8 LMS GT3 was the No. 1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT car in fifth while Grasser Racing Team (sixth) and Black Falcon (ninth) were the quickest Lamborghini and Mercedes-AMG teams.

Emil Frey Jaguar Racing picked up the Silver Cup class pole from 13th overall while Ram Racing and Garage 59 are on pole in Pro-Am and Am, respectively.

All three 15-minute qualifying sessions ran cleanly with no major incidents or full course yellow periods.

The race will get underway at 5:45 p.m. local time and will last for 1000 km or six hours. It can be viewed on the series’ website or GT World YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Qualifying

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.