Rougier Quickest in Spa Pre-Qualifying

Photo: JEP/SRO

Arthur Rougier was quickest in Pre-Qualifying for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, leading the way in CSA Racing’s Gold class Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

Rougier reeled off a best lap of 2:15.330 early in the 60-minute session to edge out the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Charles Weerts by 0.153 seconds.

Marco Mapelli was third quickest in the No. 163 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, with the No. 34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of David Pittard fourth quickest.

Thursday’s Free Practice pace-setting No. 48 Winward Racing-run Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo completed the overall top-five.

Rougier was unable to beat Lucas Auer’s 2:15.239 set during the initial 90-minute session.

Six different GT3 manufacturers occupied the top-six, with the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 ending up sixth quickest in Pre-Qualifying.

The session came to an early end with less than three minutes left on the clock for what’s believed to be a multi-car incident, including the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini of Matteo Cairoli.

The 60-minute session additionally saw two earlier Full Course Yellows, the first for the No. 55 Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jop Rappange, who spun into the gravel in Turn 12.

The No. 100 Team RJN McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Chris Buncombe stopped on track roughly 20 minutes later.

The only car to not set a competitive time in opening practice, the No. 23 Phantom Global Racing Porsche, ended up 34th quickest overall.

Qualifying is set to get underway at 8:35 p.m. local time (2:35 p.m. EDT) with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Pre-Qualifying

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John