HRT Ford Racing secured its maiden pole position in GT World Challenge Europe as they sped to a stunning fastest time in the qualifying session at Monza. The result marked a remarkable turnaround for the Ford Mustang GT3 Evo, which had struggled to establish itself at the front of the field during previous qualifying sessions.

The foundation for the achievement was laid in the opening segment of qualifying, where Arjun Maini delivered an outstanding lap to top the Q1 timesheets. His lap of 1:45.459, nearly a second faster than the benchmark set by the #23 McLaren 720S GT3 by Team RJN on Saturday, was left unbeaten in Q1, despite attempts of Dylan Pereira (Audi) and Dani Juncadella (Mercedes-AMG).

The team’s consistency then proved decisive, with Fabio Scherer and Thomas Drouet both producing front-running laps in their respective sessions to complete a strong qualifiying display for HRT. The combined effort of the #64 HRT Ford Racing entry earned them the ROWE pole position award.

HRT one-three for the 3 Hours of Monza

The #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 by Verstappen Racing slotted in on P2, missing out on the fastest lap by three tenths, but will drop to P7 due to a grid penalty for a yellow flag infringement on Saturday. Benefitting from that penalty was the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi. Pereira, Andrea Frassineti and Lorenzo Patrese combined for qualifying performance that elevated the Audi to second on the grid.

The trio also emerged as the leading Gold Cup entry, establishing a comfortable advantage over the rest of the class and reinforcing their status as serious contenders for category honours. The top three overall is completed by the second HRT entry, as the #65 Ford Mustang also claimed Silver Cup pole. Finn Wiebelhaus delivered a strong opening run, where Eduardo Coseteng and Maxime Oosten sealed the results.

#65 – HRT Ford Racing – Finn WIEBELHAUS – Eduardo COSETENG – Maxime OOSTEN – Ford Mustang GT3 EVO

While the Silver Cup battle was led by the HRT Mustang, the McLaren teams from Optimum Motorsport and Team RJN also showed encouraging pace within the category. Their starting positions don’t fully seem to reflect their qualifying speed, but both crews remain well placed to fight for class podiums during the endurance race – especially considering their free practice pace on Saturday.

Dörr continues standout results

The #23 McLaren did not grab pole position for the race, but Ben Dörr was on a roll and set the fastest time of the entire qualifying session in Q3. The young German driver clocked a lap of 1:45.323 and kept a margin of two tenths of a second to the #64 Mustang of Drouet. In Q3, the #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche 911 GT3 Evo also showed pace, having the #80 Lionspeed Porsche on its heels.

The Lionspeed trio, consisting of Ricardo Feller, Thomas Preining and Bastian Buus, will line up on the grid in P4, which is P2 in the Pro Cup. The crew is followed by the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo and the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER. It was another tough day in the office for BMW, who seem to experience some difficulties from the first meters on Italian asphalt.

During the practices they couldn’t show their full potential amongst the ROWE Racing and WRT entries. The best qualified BMW lines up in P9 overall – being the #32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo of WRT, with Kelvin van der Linde, Jordan Pepper and Charles Weerts behind the wheel. The #998 entry received a ten place grid drop and a fine of 1000 euro after accidentally swapping Ugo de Wilde and Tim Tranitz in Q1 and Q2. The top ten is completed by the #7 Aston Martin AMR GT3 Evo of Comtoyou.

#991 – Paradine Competition – Robert DE HAAN – James KELLETT – Darren LEUNG – BMW M4 GT3 EVO

Bronze entries struggle for pace in hot qualifying

The #87 Winward Mercedes takes the honours of the Bronze Cup pole class while other teams looked like they were struggling slightly to get on pace, including the #91 Herberth Porsche that looked very quick on Saturday. Rutronik Racing slots in on P2 in Bronze Cup, with the #60 Ferrari of JMW Motorsport taking P3.

It won’t take long before the teams get going again, as the race is scheduled for Sunday afternoon 15:40 CEST.

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