De Pauw grabs overall pole for AF Corse, Team WRT in position for title glory after opening Valencia qualifying

De Pauw grabs overall pole for AF Corse, Team WRT in position for title glory after opening Valencia qualifying

Ulysse De Pauw secured overall pole for this afternoon's Fanatec GT Sprint race at Valencia, while Team WRT seized the championship advantage after a disastrous qualifying session for Akkodis ASP.

Already crowned Silver Cup champion, De Pauw put the #53 AF Corse Ferrari on top with a lap of 1m30.467s, beating Charles Weerts in the #32 Team WRT Audi by 0.152s. Weerts will not be too dissatisfied with that starting spot, however, as the rival #89 Akkdodis ASP Mercedes-AMG could only manage 16th on the 26-car grid.

With the exception of the pole-sitting Ferrari, this was a session for the Audi contingent. Weerts was followed by five more R8 runners, with the #11 Tresor by Car Collection and #66 Attempto Racing entries taking P3 and P4 respectively. The third row will be shared by the #26 Saintéloc Junior Team and #30 Team WRT machines, which were second and third in the Silver Cup classification after De Pauw. 

Mercedes-AMG, on the other hand, did not enjoy a good session. The marque's best qualifier was the #87 Akkodis ASP entry, which took 10th but faces a grid drop. The sister #88 was 12th, while the #90 Madpanda Motorsport entry qualified 14th. In the championship-contending #89 Akkodis ASP car, Timur Boguslavskiy was only 16th and must make up significant ground this afternoon to prevent Team WRT from clinching the title. 

AF Corse secured Pro-Am pole – completing a lockout of all three classes for the Italian squad – thanks to Hugo Delacour in the #21 Ferrari. He beat championship leader Miguel Ramos (#188 Garage 59 McLaren) and Patryk Krupinski (#111 JP Motorsport McLaren) thanks to a 1m31.795s. 

The penultimate race of the 2022 Fanatec GT Sprint season gets underway at 14:00 CEST. Live coverage will be available to watch with English, German, French and Italian commentary on the GTWorld YouTube channel.