Magnus Quickest as Audis Dominate Pre-Qualifying

Audi entries dominated Pre-Qualifying for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup round at Misano with Gilles Magnus setting the pace.

The Belgian driver steered the No. 21 Comtoyou Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II to a time of 1:31.981 with an hour left in the 80-minute session and stayed at the top of the leaderboard until the end.

Magnus, who races in the Gold Cup class alongside Finlay Hutchison, was one of seven Audi drivers to reach the overall top ten during Friday’s second track session.

Sainteloc Junior Team driver Patric Niederhauser came through in second, 0.233 seconds off the pace, while Mercedes-AMG factory ace Raffaele Marciello was the only non-Audi competitor in the top eight.

Marciello produced a time of 1:32.450 in the No. 89 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo run by Akkodis ASP.

The No. 26 Sainteloc Audi was fourth with Simon Gachet at the helm, ahead of Comtoyou’s No. 12 Pro car and the Silver Cup-leading R8 from Tresor Attempto Racing.

The top eight was completed by Free Practice pacesetter Christopher Haase, driving for Comtoyou Racing, and Ricardo Feller of Tresor Orange 1.

Haase was the quickest GTWC Europe driver on Friday courtesy of his Free Practice time being 0.027 seconds faster than his teammate Magnus’ Pre-Qualifying benchmark.

JP Motorsport McLaren driver Norbert Siedler was ninth, ahead of Thierry Vermeulen in the No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.

Siedler’s 1:32.565 effort topped the charts in the Bronze Cup category, which is appearing on the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup grid for the first time this season.

Qualifying for Saturday’s race begins at 9 a.m. CEST (3 a.m. EDT) and will be split into two segments due to the record 42-car field at Misano.

Each 20-minute qualifying session will be split up, with the first 10 minutes reserved for the Pro and Gold Cup classes, followed by Silver and Bronze Cup in the second half.

RESULTS: Pre-Qualifying