The #77 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini topped this afternoon's pre-qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps to put the leading Am Cup contender at the head of the overall order.
Silver-graded driver Patrick Kujala circulated in 2m20.123s during the latter stages of the 60-minute session, beating the nearest challenge by almost two tenths.
Though an unexpected presence at the top of the overall standings, the #77 Barwell crew enters this year's race among the favourites to take Am Cup victory. The British outfit secured class honours in 2018 and has returned with an unchanged driver line-up for this year's race.
The #999 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM entry was second quickest thanks to 2013 race winner Maxi Buhk, whose time of 2m20.322s was 0.199s shy of Kujala's benchmark. The similar #4 Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon car was third with Maro Engel at the wheel, while the overall top-five was completed by #107 Bentley Team M-Sport and HubAuto Corsa machines, driven by Jules Gounon and Daniel Serra respectively.
It was not just the #77 Barwell car that showed strongly in pre-qualifying. The sister #78 machine also topped the Silver Cup classification, going 11th quickest overall with Sandy Mitchell at the controls. In Pro-Am, Andrea Bertolini put the #52 AF Corse Ferrari at the head of the order and 26th overall.
A total of 70 cars set times during the session, which saw spots of rain during its latter stages. The exceptions were the #25 Audi Sport Team Sainteloc machine – which only got as far as completing an out-lap – and the #97 Oman/TF Aston Martin, which remained in the garage for repairs following its earlier free practice accident.
While the session remained largely dry, the rain intensified shortly after the chequered flag. Indeed, wet conditions are possible for this evening's qualifying, which is set to begin at 20.00 CEST. The session will be streamed live globally on the Total 24 Hours of Spa website and across its social media channels.
• Pre-qualifying results