A thrilling qualifying session brought Porsche on top. The margins between the different manufacturers were tight as usual, but three incredibly consistent laps caused Alessio Picariello, Dorian Boccolacci and Morris Schuring to clinch pole position. GT REPORT asked the Boutsen VDS Racing trio for the key aspects of this Friday in Portugal.
Q1 on the Autodrómo Internacional do Algarve started just a little before sunset with Schuring behind the wheel. He showed his speed immediately with a lap of 1:42.445, just 0.079s faster than Mattia Drudi in the #7 Aston Martin. “I feel really good,” Schuring starts in conversation with GT REPORT.
“I think we’ve had a good balance all weekend. But there were a few question marks because it was our first time driving in the dark here, in slightly cooler conditions,” he points out. “It actually went surprisingly well. We had a good pace, and I think the key to our pole was our consistency. Everyone did a very good job. I’m incredibly happy to be here.”
All the hard work of the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche finally seems to pay off. Schuring explains what was underneath this remarkable turnaround. Calling it ‘luck’ would be too simple. “I think things are coming together now. We’ve had a difficult time and made some fundamental changes ahead of Zandvoort, and since then we saw a clear step forward.
“We took pole at Zandvoort, fought for victory in Barcelona, and now we’re on pole again here. I’m very proud of that. I’ve personally worked very hard for it, together with the team, of course. To be standing here now is fantastic. But race day is the day that counts.”
Schuring is obviously not the only Dutchman on the grid this weekend. The red-white-blue flag is well represented across all categories, with four-time F1 World Champion Max Verstappen racing his ‘own’ car with Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing. They seemed to struggle a little and will start the race in P15.
“I expected them to be a little further up the grid. It looks like they might have had some problems, because it’s certainly not down to the drivers – all three of them are fantastic, including Max himself. I’m sure they’ll find their way forward tomorrow. Hopefully it takes them long enough that we can stay in front until the finish!” Schuring smiles.
“You never know what can happen: safety cars, strategy, everything can come into play. We’re keeping our feet on the ground and look ahead to race day tomorrow.”
Boccolacci emphasizes the hard work behind it
Those words by Schuring are echoed by Dorian Boccolacci, who is also proud of the result. The Frenchman was incredibly fast in Q2 and enjoyed the lap on the rollercoaster in the Algarve a lot. “Honestly, it’s so nice. I really love this track going up and down I think it’s one of the best tracks in Europe. The weather conditions are also great,” Boccolacci says.
Especially the last corner causes some more adrenaline: “You go in and it’s almost flat [out]. It’s really important to lift and go easy on the throttle going up and down, because you can risk losing the front. The timing of it all is quite important,” he explains.
What made the lap even more enjoyable, was the fact that the Boutsen VDS trio put it on pole after they experienced some difficulties earlier in the season. “We trusted in each other all along. We asked the right questions and we made some changes since a couple of races. I think we can see that our performance is improving a lot,” he points out – like Schuring did.
Boccolacci wouldn’t want to do any predictions for race day in Portimão yet, as many factors play an important role before the win can come together like the pole position did. “We didn’t really do a race pace [run] during the test. You always want to maximize the performance in qualifying, and then adapt the driving style for the race.
“We adapted the car quite well for these conditions and anticipated the temepratures cooling down, which I think was key tonight.”
Picariello proud of the result: ‘Where we belong’
After Q2, it was up to Picariello to finish it. He has to admit that he’s a bit disappointed that he lost his first lap because of track limits, “which put is at risk in the end, but the pace was obviously there for the three of us,” the Belgian driver says – focussing on the plenty of positives from this session.
“After the race at the Nürburgring, I think we did a huge turnaround. The team performed really well in Zandvoort and Barcelona and now again. It proves that it’s worth it to keep fighting. It’s the last event of the season, but we are back where we belong. It’s a good feeling,” Picariello adds.
Like his teammates, he enjoyed pushing the car to its full potential on such a wild track. “It felt great!” he says. “It’s not often that you get the chance to really drive the car in quali spec. So, in GT World Challenge we have the chance to do that, and it felt amazing.”
The Belgian outfit managed to adapt well to the changing conditions. The weather and track temperatures of the Friday might be comparable to the conditions of race day, as the race will start at 17:00 WEST and finish in the dark too. Picariello hopes they will be able to adjust to the conditions the same way then.
“That was also a big question mark before quali. It was definitely not bad, but let’s see on the longer run – with the quali spec it’s always a bit different. I believe we are on the right track. Time will tell!”
