Grasser Lamborghini Scores Pole in Incident-Filled Qualifying

Photo: Dirk Bogaerts/SRO

Grasser Racing Team will start this afternoon’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup race at Monza from pole position after scoring pole in an incident-filled qualifying session in the rain.

Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart and Rolf Ineichen set a combined average lap time of 2:05.295 in the No. 63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

Ineichen set the best time of the three drivers in the third and final session, owing to the track drying as the session progressed.

All three 15-minute qualifying sessions were red-flagged at least once, with several cars going off track in the wet conditions.

These included the Antonelli Motorsport and No. 87 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3s, GPX Racing and No. 99 ROWE Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Rs and Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental GT3.

Two of Belgian Audi Club Team WRT’s R8 LMS GT3 Evos had incidents, with the No. 17 car having to be withdrawn as a result of damage sustained by Paul Petit.

Ricardo Sanchez beached his No. 10 WRT Audi late in the final session, bringing out the final red flag and causing the stewards to end the session three minutes early.

AKKA ASP qualified second with its No. 90 car running in the Silver Cup, with Nico Bastian, Timur Boguslavskiy and Felipe Fraga going 0.448 seconds slower than the leading Grasser Lamborghini.

WRT’s No. 2 Audi will start third, ahead of the factory-backed AKKA ASP Mercedes.

Oman Racing with TF Sport scored Pro-Am pole with its Aston Martin Vantage GT3, while Barwell Motorsport is out front in the Am Cup with the No. 77 Lamborghini.

The race will start at 3 p.m. local time, with a 70 percent chance of rain forecasted.

RESULTS: Qualifying

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.