BBR continued its impressive run of form in the 2022 24H SERIES by taking its second consecutive outright TCE pole position at the 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS.
The BBR CUPRA Leon Competición TCR (#159, Chariya Nuya / Kantadhee Kusiri / Kantasak Kusiri / Munkong Sathienthirakul) was the fastest TCE entrant across all three 15-minute qualifying sessions, cumulatively posting an average time of 2m 34.005s around the 7.004km Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, just over a second quicker than its division rivals.
“First I have to say thank you to the whole team. The car was perfect,” Kantadhee Kusiri explained to radiolemans.com’s Joe Bradley. “We were also quite lucky because we had a clear lap – the traffic can be really bad – so that helped us post a perfect lap. Tomorrow, we need to stay smooth, not push too hard, and keep the car on-track, but this is a good start.”
While the Holmgaard Motorsport Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR DSG (#102, Magnus Holmgaard / Jonas Holmgaard / Roy Edland / Martin Vedel Mortensen) was the second fastest TCE runner during Q1 and Q2, a late surge from Valluga (#205, Bradley Ellis / Leonidas Loucas / Rhea Loucas / Charles Hollings) during the final session was enough to seal the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS TCX class pole and a front row spot on the TCE grid.
A difficult final run for Holmgaard Motorsport meanwhile saw the Danish team drop from 2nd to 6th in the closing moments.
Having ended Free Practice in the gravel trap at the Bus Stop Chicane, the AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS DSG (#188, Stephane Perrin / Mathieu Detry / Yannick Mettler) recovered well to qualify 3rd overall.
The Belgian team will share the second row of the grid with long-time rival, and reigning Overall TCE Teams’ champion, Wolf-Power Racing (#116, Jasmin Preisig / Fabian Danz / Marcus Menden), while the Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR SEQ of Hankook 12H MUGELLO runner-up NOKER racing team rounds out the top five on the TCE grid.
Behind the PR-V Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (#225, Hervé Houdré / Christian Gloz), the average times of Spain’s Baporo Motorsport (#151, Joan Vinyes / Jaume Font) and RAIL EQUIP BY TOTCAR SPORT (#123, Jorge Belloc Diaz / Jorge Belloc Ruiz / Álvaro Rodríguez Sastre) were split by less than two-tenths of the second.
The CUPRA TCRs will line-up 8th and 9th in TCE ahead of Belgium’s Xwift Racing (#221, Pieter Denys / Tim de Borle / Steven Dewulf), the latter’s Ligier JS2 R also rounding out the division’s top 10.
The green flag for the 2022 Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS is scheduled to fly on Saturday 23 April at 12.25 hrs local time, with the race running until 17.55 hrs that evening.
