Donno Puts Silver Cup Ferrari on Hockenheim Race 1 Pole

Eliseo Donno beat Ben Green to lead a Ferrari 1-2 in qualifying for the opening race of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup weekend at Hockenheim.

The No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, which is entered into Silver Cup, recorded a lap of 1:37.349 to outpace Green’s No. 14 Emil Frey Racing example by 0.274 seconds.

Green came closest to toppling Donno’s best effort with a last-gasp effort of 1:37.623, although the British driver was unable to secure his second overall pole position of the season.

However, he still took pole in the Pro category, 0.028 seconds ahead of the No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Lucas Auer in third overall.

Auer will be joined on the second row by compatriot Max Hofer in the No. 6 Liqui-Moly Team Engstler Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, who took Gold Cup pole in the process.

Bronze Cup, meanwhile, was led by Louis Prette in the No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo in fifth overall.

Gilles Magnus took sixth for Sainteloc Racing ahead of Garage 59’s Pro-entered McLaren for Benjamin Goethe, who outqualified class rivals Thierry Vermeulen and Jules Gounon.

Gounon, piloting the No. 9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG, jumped up to ninth with a late-session improvement, while Sandy Mitchell completed the top ten in the No. 78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini.

Saturday morning’s ten-minute shootout left a number of Pro entries out of position, most notably the championship-leading No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.

Charles Weerts qualified 19th overall, behind WRT’s Silver Cup car of Calan Williams in twelfth and the Century Motorsport-entered example of Dan Harper in 13th.

Weerts was one spot clear of the No. 90 Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Phil Keen, while Pro entries from Comtoyou Racing, Rutronik Racing and Tresor Attempto Racing ended the session in 25th, 26th and 27th overall.

The opening Sprint Cup race of the weekend kicks off at 2:15 p.m. CEST (8:15 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Qualifying 1