Schuring Takes Zandvoort Race 1 Pole in Boutsen VDS Porsche

The Boutsen VDS Porsche of Morris Schuring has taken pole for the opening race of the Zandvoort GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup weekend.

Schuring clocked a 1:33.730 to set the pace on home soil aboard the No. 2 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo in the opening qualifying segment as all the drivers waited until the final three minutes before posting a fast time amid the rapid track evolution.

Schuring ended up a tenth of a second quicker than the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Tom Fleming, who took the Gold Cup pole.

Third fastest was the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Tommaso Mosca with a 1:33.877 in the car that leads the Gold Cup standings, while Eddie Cheever was the quickest from the second segment of qualifying to go fourth overall in the Bronze Cup pace-setting No. 93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche on a 1:33.971.

Augusto Farfus ensured there were two Bronze cars in the top-five, thanks to his efforts aboard the No. 991 Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Rounding out the top-six was then the second of the Garage 59 McLarens of Dean Macdonald.

The Razoon – more than racing Porsche that has moved up to the Pro class for this weekend was seventh thanks to Klaus Bachler, just ahead of another Porsche, the No. 80 Lionspeed car of Bastian Buus that is second in the overall points.

Ninth fastest was the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari of Thierry Vermeulen, while the top-ten was completed by Thomas Neubauer in the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari on his return to action after a collarbone injury.

The Silver Cup pole was taken by the points-leading No. 30 WRT BMW of Matisse Lismont with a 1:34.184 that was good enough for 14th overall.

However, it was a tricky session for his teammate, the overall points leader Charles Weerts, who was only 17th fastest in the opening segment in the No. 32 BMW but that became 33rd once the Silver and Bronze class cars had qualified.

But Weerts was not the only overall title contender well down the grid, with Lucas Auer only 20th in the No. 48 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that has already won the Endurance Cup crown, while the Verstappen Racing 2 Seas example of Dani Juncadella was 27th.

Attention now turns to the opening hour-long race of the Zandvoort weekend, which is due to begin at 2:45 p.m. CEST (8:45 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Qualifying 1