+ Result: Qualifying 1, Spa-Francorchamps
+ Result: Qualifying 2, Spa-Francorchamps
Elite Motorsport drivers Josh Rattican and McKenzy Cresswell proved the stars of a tricky qualifying session at Spa, claiming a pole each to extend the British team’s strong run of form in Belgium.
Having secured a double pole and a double win at the venue last season, Elite continued the trend this year, despite some typical Ardennes weather leading to a challenging session for the 44-car field.
W&S Motorsport’s #32 Porsche and PB Racing’s Lotus shared the Pro-Am poles, with Team Speedcar’s #44 Audi and the #30 W&S Porsche claimed the top spots in the Am class.
Q1: Rattican extends the streak
Persistent rain across the morning meant the cars rolled out on a soaked circuit, with limited grip and visibility due to huge spray kicking up at the start.
Stefano D’Aste made the most of the early running to put his PB Racing Lotus top before Charlie Hart deposed him in the #812 RAFA Racing by RACE LAB McLaren. Then came Rattican, blasting to the front just before the session was halted a few minutes early when Mathieu Detry slid his AV Racing Porsche into the gravel.
That proved the last of the running, securing Rattican and Elite’s first pole just 0.086s ahead of the RAFA Artura. Hendrik Still again came close to stealing top spot late on, but had his best lap scrubbed for track limits at Blanchimont, dropping the W&S Porsche back to third. However, that was still enough for Pro-Am pole.
D’Aste was an impressive fourth in the Lotus, ahead of Gregory Guilvert’s Team Speedcar Audi and Detry’s Porsche. Points leader Benjamin Lariche was just 11th after a difficult session.
Julien Ripert scored a first Am class pole of the year for Team Speedcar’s #44 Audi, ahead of Daniel Blickle’s W&S Porsche and points leader Antoni de Barn in the #317 Chazel Technologie Course BMW.
Q2: Cresswell doubles up
Cresswell made it four from four for Elite in impressive fashion, claiming his breakthrough pole in dominant fashion after timing his best run just right for the conditions.
Zac Meakin (replacing Julius Dinesen) was quick out of the blocks in the replacement #81 McLaren that the RAFA squad sourced from Elite after its own was damaged during Pre-Qualifying. Miller’s time stood until Cresswell got up to speed and edged ahead. Gabriele Piana put in a great lap to beat Cresswell’s initial effort to move the #12 Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW onto provisional pole just before the session was halted to recover the #128 AV Racing Porsche from the gravel after a spin.
Less than 10 minutes remained when the track again went green, and Cresswell found clear air and took advantage of the improving conditions to roar clear by 1.5s. Meakin brought the gap down to 1.3s by the flag, but that was as close as anybody got.
While Meakin sat second in the times, the car will face a 20-place grid drop for using a replacement chassis, elevating Piana onto the front row for race two. Callum Davies will start third in the #812 RAFA car, ahead of Paul Petit’s Team Speedcar Audi and Pedro Ebrahim in the sister Borusan BMW.
Alberto Naska claimed a second straight Pro-Am pole, backing up breakthrough pole at Zandvoort with top spot here in the PB Racing Lotus. The Italian starts ahead of Hans Holmlund in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Sweden Supra and Thibaut Mogica’s CMR Ginetta.
Max Kronberg mastered the conditions to secure Am class pole in the #30 W&S Motorsport Porsche, well ahead of the Seyffarth Motorsport Audi in the hands of Tobias Erdmann and Jean-Mathieu Leandri as Chazel Technologie Course kept up the pressure in third.