Christian Mansell took pole ahead of Race 1 of the International GT Open’s last round in Barcelona. The session took place on a cool, almost dry track. It’s the first personal pole for the Australian driver of the Team Motopark Mercedes shared with Maxi Götz, who stopped the clock in 1.38.956.
Top runners for the entire season, the pair lost any chance to be in the final title battle due to an unlucky retirement in the final laps of the Monza endurance race. Mansell commented: “Clearly, we would have liked to be fighting for the title here, after a very good season, but that’s racing. We have to forget what happened, and enjoy the moment here. We’re here for racing and have fun. It wasn’t an easy qualifying sessions, with the changing conditions and the two red flags, but we did a good work”.
Sharing row 1 will be the Greystone GT McLaren of McKenzy Cresswell (+0s302), who led the session almost up to the second red flag, exposed with 4 minutes still on the clock, to rescue the Mercedes of Mazepin stuck in the sand. Previously, another interruption occurred, for the same reason, with the Porsche of Dwernicki.
In second row will be the SPS Mercedes of Yannick Mettler (+0s382), the first car in Pro-Am, and AF Corse Ferrari of Thomas Neubauer (+0s625).
In third row, the Pedersen Porsche of Mikkel Pedersen (+0s833), who led a part of the session, and the Greystone McLaren of title challenger Zac Meakin (+0s834).
The championship leading Elite Motorsport Ferrari qualified tenth with Tom Lebon, while Denis Waszek in the GoodSpeed Aston Martin was the fastest among Am drivers.