Lionspeed GP's young ace Bastian Buus beat some big-name opposition to earn a career-first Rowe Pole Award in this morning's split qualifying session at Zandvoort.
With a bumper 41-car grid competing at the Dutch venue, qualifying was divided into two segments: the Pro and Gold Cup runners would run in Q1A, followed by the Silver and Bronze cars in Q1B.
Gilles Magnus topped the first session in the #25 Saintéloc Racing Audi, posting a 1m33.033s to edge Patric Niederhauser (#96 Rutronik Racing Porsche) by 0.015s. This put the Belgian on provisional pole, albeit with 23 cars still to run.
There were some big hitters among them – Ricardo Feller, Augusto Farfus and Dennis Marschall to name just a few. But it was rising star Buus, driving the #89 Porsche, who delivered a 1m32.812s to bag his and the team's first overall pole. Dylan Pereira (#66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi) was second in the session, followed by Feller in the second Lionspeed GP Porsche. All three cars are entered in the Bronze Cup class.
With the two sessions combined, Buus was on overall pole by a relatively comfortable margin of 0.221s. Magnus will line up second and has Gold Cup pole, with Niederhauser and Pereira sharing row two. Alessio Rovera (#51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrar) qualified fifth on the combined grid, followed by Lucas Engstler (#63 Garsser Racing Lamborghini) and Lucas Auer in the championship-leading #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG.
Silver Cup pole went to the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi of Alex Aka, who was 22nd overall. There were some notable strugglers among the Pro cars, with the hotly-tipped Emil Frey Racing squad 15th and 16th, while the #50 AF Corse entry was 17th and the Team WRT BMW only 19th.
But this afternoon's race could provide plenty more twists and turns. Given that several Bronze Cup cars will start at the front but must serve a mandatory pit stop time, the outcome is extremely difficult to call. The action gets underway at 15:00 and can be watched live on the GT World YouTube channel.
> Results: Combined Qualifying 1