Herberth Motorsport denies Scuderia Praha fifth consecutive pole position in the dying seconds of qualifying for the 2017 12H IMOLA
The Herberth Motorsport Porsche 991 GT3 R (#111 Daniel Allemann / Ralf Bohn / Robert Renauer / Alfred Renauer) has taken a last-grasp pole position for this weekend’s 2017 12H IMOLA. This marks the first time the German outfit has taken the top spot in qualifying in the 2017 24H Series thus far.
Despite two (brief) red flag periods during the one-hour session, Robert Renauer’s fastest lap of 1m 43.144s – recorded with just 30 seconds to go – was just 0.193s faster than the 1m 43.337s recorded by the Scuderia Praha Ferrari 488 GT3 (#11, Jiri Pisarik / Josef Král). Just one-tenth further back, the Ram Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#30, Tom Onslow-Cole / Remon Leonard Vos) completed the top three for the series-leading A6-Pro category on the opening day of the 2017 12H IMOLA.
The GP Extreme Renault RS01 FGT3 (#27, Frederic Fatien / Jordan Grogor / Bassam Kronfli) was fastest of the A6-Am cars, gapping the Leipert Motorsport
Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo (#10, Aleksander Schjerpen / Dimitri Deverikos / Harald Schlotter / Morgan Haber) and MDC-Sports Mercedes-AMG GT3 entries (#44, Manuel Zumstein / Adrian Zumstein / Philip Zumstein) by just over 1.4 seconds. The trio will start 6th, 8th and 9th on the grid respectively.
The PROsport Performance Porsche 991 Cup meanwhile (#85, Charles Putman / Charles Espenlaub / Joe Foster) took a decisive pole position in the 911 class over the MSG Motorsport Porsche 991 Cup (#92, Petar Matic / Philipp Schlegel / Martin Gasser / Boris Miljevic), its sole class rival this weekend at Imola.
A close battle for the SP2-class top spot was ultimately decided when the APO Sport Porsche (#80, Alex Osborne / Paul May) pulled an almost 1.5-second gap out over the second-placed IDEC SPORT RACING Porsche 991 Cup (#75, David Abramczyk / Romain Vozniak / Stephane Adler) and a further two-tenths over the Porsche Lorient Racing Porsche 991 Cup (#64, Philippe Polette / Frédéric Lelievre / Frédéric Ancel).
Timings were similarly close in the SP3-GT4 category, the Optimum Motorsport
Ginetta G55 GT4 (#231, Adrian Barwick / Dan O'Brien / Julio Martini) claiming class pole position by an incredible 0.03s over its fellow class runners. The Brookspeed International Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 MR (#40, Rory Butcher / William Paul / Chase Owen) and the Team Africa Le Mans Ginetta G55 GT4 (#555, Jan Lammers / Sarel van der Merwe / Greg Mills / Graham Vos) will line up 2nd and 3rd in-class on the grid, despite the latter stopping on-track in the closing stages.
All seven TCR class entrants meanwhile will be line-astern on the grid for this afternoon’s 12H IMOLA race start, the Speed Factory Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR SEQ (#109, Jesus Fuster / Miguel Abello / Jaime Fuster / Mirko van Oostrum) heading the class just ahead of the Team Altran Peugeot 308 Racing Cup (#308, Guillaume Roman / Thierry Blaise / Kim Holmgaard) and the Cadspeed Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR SEQ (#108, Erik Holstein / Jason Coupal / James Kaye). Finally, the Team Cooksport Renault Clio Cup IV (#172, Alex Sedgwick / Oliver Cook / Josh Cook / Adam Hatfield) overhauled the Endurance Team Romania Toyota GT86 CS-V3 (#173, Sergiu Nicolae / Fabrizio Broggi / Viorel Nicolae) for A2 class pole position.
