+ Provisional result: Qualifying 1
+ Provisional result: Qualifying 2
Team Speedcar Audi drivers Benjamin Lariche and Robert Consani kept their bid for this year’s Silver title alive by scoring a double pole at Monza, twice fending off the challenge of the championship leaders.
Lariche produced the fastest-ever GT4 lap around Monza in Q1, shattering his own lap record from last year to make it two poles here in the last two years. Consani then made it three by edging ahead of a tight second session, beating the points-leading Elite McLaren by just 0.05s.
The top spots were shared in both Pro-Am and Am. The #812 RAFA Racing Team McLaren and #75 AV Racing Porsche led the way in Pro-Am, while the #300 Team Speedcar Audi and title-chasing #55 Schumacher CLRT Alpine shared the Am spoils.
Having topped Friday practice and been a pole-sitter at Monza last season, the Team Speedcar Audi in Lariche’s hands could never be discounted, but the Frenchman put in a superb drive, guiding the car to both pole and a new lap record.
Lariche topped the times from the very start, and his ultimate best of 1:53.708s sliced over a second off his old record, putting him over half-a-second clear of anybody. Initially, Josh Rattican was his closest challenger in the points-leading Elite McLaren, but he was demoted to the second row of the grid by the flying Jon Lancaster as the gold-rated driver both topped Pro-Am and finished the session second-fastest overall in the RAFA Racing Team McLaren Artura.
Stanislav Safronov kept the pressure up in the Pro-Am title chase by finishing fourth fastest overall and second in Pro-Am in the #7 Mirage Racing Aston Martin, ahead of the second of the Elite McLarens driven by Alex Denning. Erik Evans and Marco Signoretti rounded out the overall top six in their #61 Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang.
Things got even better for Team Speedcar when Adrien Paviot took the sister #300 Audi to top spot in Am in a fine ninth place overall, comfortably clear of Andy Cantu’s NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG and Pascal Huteau in the championship-leading Schumacher CLRT Alpine.
Consani took over for Q2 and faced a much tighter battle. Although he went fastest early on, his time was quickly shuffled back, especially by the pair of Elite McLarens which ran as one to produce a great slipstream down Monza’s long straights. After Tom Lebbon led, Jamie Day’s Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin was then briefly fastest before Consani improved on his final effort to regain provisional pole. The result was secured after the final round of flying laps, when Lebbon fell just 0.057s shy with his best, and Tom Emson completed an Elite two-three. Cameron Lawrence made it three McLarens in the top four in the #81 RAFA Racing Team Artura. Marco Signoretti put the #61 Ford inside the top five, just ahead of Day’s Aston.
Laurent Hurgon continued to be the yardstick in the Am class, claiming 14th overall and ensuring the Schumacher CLRT Alpine starts race two well out front in the class from the Chazel Technologie Course car driven by Jean-Mathieu Leandri and Philippe Thalamy in the #444 Audi.
Noam Abramczyk did his best to keep AV Racing in the Pro-Am title fight by grabbing pole for the #75 Porsche. He did enough to forge a gap over the championship leading cars of W&S Motorsport and Mirage Racing, with Max Kronberg and Aleksandr Vaintrub set to start side-by-side on Sunday.
The opening GT4 European Series Powered by RAFA Racing Club race is set for 17:00 today (Saturday).
