Garage 59 ace Adam gives Aston Martin maiden Sprint Cup pole with sensational qualifying performance at Misano

Garage 59 ace Adam gives Aston Martin maiden Sprint Cup pole with sensational qualifying performance at Misano

Jonny Adam delivered a standout performance at the wheel of the #188 Garage 59 Aston Martin to put a Pro-Am car on overall pole for the first time in the Sprint Cup. 

The Scottish driver posted a 1m31.687s to beat a host of big names to top spot in a highly unpredictable session, earning Aston its maiden Sprint Cup pole in the process. A red flag after 10 of the 20 minutes had elapsed made for an unpredictable second half as the expected front-runners failed to find significant improvements. Adam took advantage to seal top spot and his aim this afternoon will be to secure class honours in the #188 machine alongside crew-mate Alex West. 

There will not be a Pro car on the front row of the grid after Patrick Kujala (#33 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari) qualified second overall and bagged pole in the Silver Cup. The Finnish ace was 0.011s shy of Adam and will start eight places ahead of his nearest class rival. 

Dries Vanthoor (#32 Team WRT Audi) was third after failing to make a significant improvement during the second half of the session, though the Belgian and crew-mate Charles Weerts are well-placed for this afternoon's 60-minute contest. Jack Aitken delivered his best qualifying performance yet to put the #114 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini fourth on the grid, while Raffaele Marciello (#88 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG) will be fifth.

Second among the Silver Cup runners was Ryuichiro Tomita, who qualified 10th overall and ensured that Team WRT will start with all three of its cars among the top-10. He was one place ahead of class rival Juuso Puhakka in the #7 Toksport WRT Mercedes-AMG. Henrique Chaves was 14th overall and second among the Pro-Am contenders. 

The mid-session red flag was caused by the #107 CMR Bentley, which spun into the gravel with Pierre Alexandre-Jean at the wheel. The #66 Attempto Racing Audi ran just three laps due to engine trouble and will start 29th, while the #54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche has withdraw from the event following its accident in yesertday's opening contest. Full results can be viewed here

This afternoon's 60-minute contest will be the sixth of the 2021 Sprint Cup campaign and gets underway at 14:00 CEST. All of the action will be streamed live on the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS website and social media platforms, including the GT World YouTube channel.