Gounon Tops Shortened Monza Pre-Qualifying

Jules Gounon went quickest in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup Pre-Qualifying at Monza, completing a sweep of Saturday sessions and leading a Mercedes-AMG 1-2 in the process.

The Andorran racer steered the No. 17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to a best lap of 1:46.003, outpacing the No. 9 Boutsen VDS machine of fellow factory driver Maxime Martin by 0.044 seconds.

Jordan Pepper was third in the No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini, followed by Maro Engel’s No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG and the No. 164 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini in the hands of Franck Perera.

The No. 6 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG topped Silver Cup in sixth overall with Tanart Sathienthirakul at the wheel, ahead of the No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo piloted by Marvin Kirchhoefer.

Nicki Thiim took eighth for Comtoyou Racing, with the No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II and No. 33 Verstappen dot com Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo completing the overall top ten.

The Aston Martin, driven by Thierry Vermeulen, also topped Gold Cup while the Bronze Cup-leading No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren was one spot further back in eleventh overall.

Although not as incident-filled as the Free Practice session that saw four interruptions earlier on Saturday, the 60-minute Pre-Qualifying still featured two red flags.

The first came after nine minutes when Ivan Klymenko spun the No. 26 Sainteloc Racing Audi into the gravel at Lesmo 2, although the car would rejoin the session.

More significant was a crash for AF Corse driver Arthur Leclerc at Parabolica, which saw the Monegasque driver spin off and make contact with the barriers with five minutes remaining aboard the No. 50 Ferrari 296 GT3.

Although Leclerc walked away from the car unaided, the accident brought out a second red flag and brought the session to a premature end as it was not restarted.

Qualifying is next on the schedule, set for Sunday at 9:50 a.m. CEST (3:50 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Pre-Qualifying