Weerts extends WRT Audi dominance at Magny-Cours with season-opening Sprint Cup pole

Weerts extends WRT Audi dominance at Magny-Cours with season-opening Sprint Cup pole

Charles Weerts continued Team WRT's dominant form at Magny-Cours to bag pole position for the opening Sprint Cup race of 2021. 

The Belgian youngster was fastest at the half-way mark of the 20-minute session and went quicker again on his final run, posting a 1m36.113s at the wheel of the #32 Audi. He ended qualifying 0.105s clear of his closet contender, matching Dries Vanthoor's results from free practice and pre-qualifying.

Weerts was followed by two Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini drivers, both of whom impressed for different reasons. Ricardo Feller put the #163 second on the grid to reward his team's overnight repair job following Norbert Siedler's accident on Friday. Indeed, Feller was a late addition to the #163 crew in place of the Austrian, who will miss the event as a precaution.

Feller's spot in the #14 Lamborghini was taken by Arthur Rougier, who finished a fine third overall and also bagged Silver Cup pole in what was his first session of the weekend. The Frenchman will start alongside class rival Patrick Kujala, who showed well the #33 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari. Another impressive Silver Cup runner completed the top-five as Ezequiel Perez Companc delivered a strong performance in the #90 Madpanda Mercedes-AMG. He will share the third row with Luca Stolz in the #6 Mercedes-AMG Team Toksport WRT entry. 

Alexander West earned Pro-Am pole in the #188 Garage 59 Aston Martin. The British squad carried its Endurance form over to the Sprint Cup, with West edging out the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of Miguel Ramos by just 0.028s, hinting at a very competitive battle for class honours tonight. Full session times can be viewed here

The season-opening Sprint Cup contest gets underway at 22:25 CEST, more than an hour after the sun sets at Magny-Cours. With Vanthoor having topped both of yesterday's sessions, WRT are in a strong position to continue their dominance of the event. All of the action will be streamed live on the GT World Challenge website and social media channels, including GT World YouTube broadcasts with English and French commentary.