Altoe on Pole for Sprint Cup Finale; Boguslavskiy Beats Drudi

Giacomo Altoe secured pole for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup finale at Zandvoort, which will see title protagonists Akkodis ASP and Tresor Orange 1 start in eighth and ninth place.

Altoe went quickest in a session that began under damp conditions but saw times improve amidst a gradual switch to slick tires, leaping to the top with a 1:37.189 aboard the No. 14 Ferrari 296 GT3.

In doing so, he toppled Garage 59’s Benjamin Goethe who then improved to just 0.012 seconds from Altoe, but remained in second place aboard the No. 159 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

Maxime Martin completed the top three behind the wheel of the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3, joined on the second row by the No. 30 sister car of Calan Williams, which claimed Gold Cup pole.

Frank Bird went quickest in Silver Cup with fifth overall in the No. 77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, leading WRT’s Charles Weerts and the second Emil Frey Ferrari in the hands of Thierry Vermeulen.

Timur Boguslavskiy qualified eighth in the No. 88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes, crucially remaining ahead of direct title rival Mattia Drudi aboard the No. 40 Tresor Orange 1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

Boguslavskiy initially moved up to sixth position with a late improvement before being jumped by both Altoe and Bird.

This puts him and co-driver Raffaele Marciello one row ahead of Drudi and Ricardo Feller on the grid for this afternoon’s deciding race, which will see the No. 40 Audi defend a narrow, 2,5-point lead.

Lorenzo Patrese rounded out the top the aboard the No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing.

This afternoon’s Sprint Cup decider kicks off at 2 p.m. CEST (8 a.m. EDT), with live coverage on the GT World YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Qualifying 2