Perera Beats Auer to Secure 24H Spa Pole

Grasser Racing Team will start the centenary edition of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa from pole position after Franck Perera beat Lucas Auer with a last-gasp effort in Superpole.

Perera reeled off a 2:13.718 aboard the No. 163 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 to beat Auer by a mere 0.036 seconds, with Alessio Rovera third for AF Corse.

Perera, Auer and Rovera were the only three drivers in the session to break the 2:13 barrier during the session and all beat an early benchmark set by Lorenzo Patrese in the process.

Patrese’s No. 88 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II sat atop the timesheets for much of the session after he set a 2:14.006 as the third driver on track in the 20-car shootout.

Auer, driving the No. 48 Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, was the first to beat Patrese’s time by setting a 2:13.754, but subsequently failed to improve during his second lap.

While the Austrian’s time was quick enough to hold off initial challenges from both Rovera and Perera, the latter then posted a faster time to secure pole for the Gottfried Grasser-led stable.

Rovera, meanwhile, also went slower on his second attempt and had to settle for third, with Patrese and the No. 2 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed entry of Jules Gounon completing the top five.

Vincent Abril was sixth in the No. 71 Ferrari 296 GT3, ahead of Sainteloc Racing’s Gilles Magnus.

Mathieu Jaminet was the best Porsche driver aboard the No. 92 SSR Herberth machine, leading Boutsen VDS driver Maximilian Goetz.

Thomas Preining qualified tenth in the No. 23 Phantom Global Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, one of just two drivers to abort his second flying lap after dropping five seconds in the middle sector.

He still remained ahead of the No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Mattia Drudi, the No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo in the hands of Marvin Kirchhoefer and Arjun Maini’s No. 77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG.

Henrique Chaves and Mikael Grenier completed the top 15, ahead of Schumacher CLRT’s Dorian Boccolacci and the No. 998 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 piloted by Max Hesse.

The final positions in the top 20 were made up by Iron Lynx’s Andrea Caldarelli, the No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW driven by Marco Wittmann and Simon Gachet for HAAS RT.

A 30-minute warmup session is scheduled for Friday evening at 8:25 p.m. CEST (4:25 p.m. EDT), with the race kicking off on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Superpole