Bortolotti, Grasser Quickest in Silverstone Pre-Qualifying

Grasser Racing Team driver Mirko Bortolotti set the fastest lap during the pre-qualifying practice session for the Silverstone round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.

Bortolotti was one of three drivers to break the two-minute barrier around the 3.6-mile grand prix circuit, with the Italian’s time of 1:59.640 holding out as the quickest overall.

This put the Monza pole-sitting No. 63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo just under a tenth of a second clear over the SMP Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 which ended Saturday on a 1:59.714 courtesy of Davide Rigon.

Third-quickest was defending Endurance Cup champion Maro Engel, who posted a 1:59.977 aboard the No. 4 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Fellow Mercedes-AMG driver Raffaele Marciello placed the No. 88 AKKA ASP machine fourth in the order, ahead of Nicki Thiim in his R-Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Pro class cars occupied the top seven positions, while the fastest Pro-Am entry was the No. 74 Ram Racing Mercedes that brought out the red flags in Free Practice.

The pre-qualifying order was effectively sealed by a rain shower 15 minutes from the end of the session which prevented any drivers from making improvements.

Tom Onslow-Cole submitted a 2:00.481 to put the car that he co-drives with Remon Vos to the top of the category. 

As was the case in Free Practice, Pre-Qualifying also saw a period of red flag interruption when the No. 107 Bentley Continental GT3 that led the opening session had to be retrieved from the Copse gravel.

The Bentley, which Kane shares with Jordan Pepper and Jules Gounon, managed to record the 12th-best time before its off-track excursion.

Qualifying for the 3 Hours of Silverstone is set to take place tomorrow morning at 9:40 a.m. local time (4:40 a.m. eastern).