Alessio Rovera captured his first ROWE Pole Position Award of 2025 in Qualifying 1 at Misano, leading a Ferrari one-two in a session dominated by the Maranello manufacturer.
As was the case at Zandvoort, this weekend's quali sessions are split into two 10-minute segments. Pro and Gold crews ran first on Saturday, with Silver and Bronze squads going next. The #51 AF Corse Francorchamps Motors Ferrari was quickest in the opening segment thanks to a 1m31.309s, a benchmark that could not be beaten.
This meant that Rovera captured his first-ever Sprint Cup pole and the first for AF Corse since Hockenheim last year. The #51 Ferrari bagged a bonus point for taking P1, its first since winning the season-opening Sprint race at Brands Hatch.
Dennis Marschall went P2 overall during the second session, capturing a commanding Bronze Cup pole in the process. The #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari was fast throughout practice and backed this up by lapping just 0.055s shy of Rovera's time.
Third on the grid went to Valentino Rossi, who earned his best-ever Sprint Cup starting position at the wheel of the #46 Team WRT BMW. Rossi was two tenths shy of Rovera's benchmark and 0.004s ahead of Chris Lulham, who scored Gold Cup pole aboard the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari.
Ben Green was fifth in the sister #14 Emil Frey Racing entry, completing a stellar showing by Ferrari. Charles Weerts qualified sixth in the championship-leading #32 Team WRT BMW, followed by the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche of Patric Niederhauser.
Silver Cup pole went to the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi, which was fastest in both of Friday's practice sessions. Ezequiel Perez Companc was at the wheel and placed 14th overall. As such he will start one place ahead of the title-contending #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, which struggled to 15th.
All 43 cars completed laps, while both segments of Qualifying 1 ran without a stoppage. The opening race gets underway tonight – shortly before sunset – at 20:15 CEST. Live coverage will air on the GT World YouTube channel, with commentary in English, French, Italian and German.
> RESULTS: Qualifying 1