Bachler Leads Stop-Start Spa Pre-Qualifying

Klaus Bachler set the fastest time in an incident-filled and shortened Pre-Qualifying session for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Bachler steered the No. 911 Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R to a best lap of 2:17.924, 0.131 seconds clear of the No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

The two cars ran at the head of the Bronze class in the process, with the No. 159 McLaren of Marvin Kirchhoefer third overall and topping the Pro category.

The No. 99 Tresor Orange 1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Lorenzo Patrese set the pace in Silver Cup in fourth overall, with Tom Gamble completing the top five aboard the No. 5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren.

The 60-minute session ended prematurely as a result of a red flag triggered by a crash for the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in the hands of Kenny Habul.

Habul hit the wall at Raidillon with five minutes remaining, bringing out a third red flag after which the session was not resumed.

The session came to a halt on two previous occasions, both for incidents involving Mercedes-AMG machinery at Turn 11.

First, Alex Peroni ran through the gravel aboard the No. 3 GetSpeed machine and brushed the barrier, scattering gravel across the track surface.

Once the session resumed, it was stopped again not much later when Naveen Rao made contact with the tire barrier in the same location.

The American driver beached the No. 64 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG in the gravel, requiring another stoppage.

The No. 92 Manthey EMA Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor slotted into sixth, with the No. 9 Boutsen VDS Audi seventh.

The top ten was completed by the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 driven by Mirko Bortolotti, GetSpeed’s Patrick Assenheimer and Audi Sport Team Comtoyou’s No. 11 machine in the hands of Christopher Haase.

Track action resumes with qualifying, set to take place at 9:20 p.m. CEST (3:20 p.m. ET)

RESULTS: Pre-Qualifying