Marciello Storms to Pole for Misano Saturday Race

Mercedes-AMG driver Raffaele Marciello stormed to pole position for the first of two Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup races at Misano.

The Swiss ace reeled off a time of 1:30.762 in the No. 88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that he shares with Boguslavskiy, topping the timesheets by 0.307 seconds.

Marciello, whose fastest lap came after taking a set of fresh Pirelli slick tires, was the only driver to enter 1:30 territory during the 20-minute session which had its opening half reserved for Pro and Gold Cup entries.

By taking his second pole of the season, Marciello reduced Ricardo Feller and Mattia Drudi’s Sprint Cup championship lead to 5.5 points.

The No. 88 Mercedes-AMG will share the front row of the grid for Saturday’s race with the No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 qualified by Giacomo Altoe.

Third went to Henrique Chaves, who set the Bronze Cup pace in the No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, while Frederic Vervisch was fourth for Comtoyou Racing.

Vervisch was the quickest of the Audi drivers after the German manufacturer’s cars dominated Pre-Qualifying on Friday.

Garage 59 saw both of its McLarens reach the top five courtesy of Nicolaj Kjaergaard’s time of 1:31.362 behind the wheel of the British team’s Pro-category car.

Loris Spinelli was sixth for Lamborghini outfit Imperiale Racing, one position of the Gold Cup pole-sitting Comtoyou Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Gilles Magnus.

Silver Cup pole honors went to Jordan Love in the Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG that he shares with Frank Bird.

Saturday’s 60-minute Sprint Cup race starts at 2 p.m. CEST (8 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Qualifying 1