2 Seas Mercedes-AMG masters mixed conditions at Spa
Pre-Qualifying result sets GT4 grid order following Ramyead's Q3 accident
2 Seas Motorsport’s Kevin Tse and Maximilian Goetz will start British GT’s annual Spa day from pole position after overturning Barwell Motorsport’s initial advantage in qualifying earlier this afternoon.
Ricky and Rob Collard would have lined up alongside the Mercedes-AMG on the front row after Rob topped the first 10-minute session outright, however the car was handed a 10-place grid drop for not slowing sufficiently under yellow flags late in the second session.
That promoted Blackthorn’s Aston Martin shared by Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam to second, with the sister Barwell Lamborghini of Alex Martin and Sandy Mitchell third, ahead of Silver-Am pole-sitters Matt Topham and Josh Rowledge in the second Blackthorn Aston.
However, GT4's qualifying session was cut short before the end of Q3 when Ravi Ramyead's Century BMW crashed at Raidillon, causing substantial barrier damage. The grid is therefore set per the aggregated times Pre-Qualifying’s result. That handed DTO Motorsport Ginetta pair Freddie Tomlinson and Stuart Middleton top spot.
GT3: TSE AND GOETZ RIDE THE WAVE FOR 2 SEAS
Q1 was largely fought between Rob Collard, Tse and Petrobelli, whose pace throughout the first 10-minute session suggested Blackthorn had the car to beat. And things were made more difficult by conditions typical of the iconic Belgian circuit, with the track soaking at La Source yet dry virtually everywhere else.
However, all three of the Aston Martin’s laps were compromised by traffic to a greater or lesser extent, so it was ultimately Collard who ended up with a handy 0.335s advantage over 2 Seas’ #18 Mercedes-AMG, which featured amongst the top three throughout.
Petrobelli, meanwhile, finished 0.024s down on Tse and two tenths clear of Miguel Ramos whose solo-driven Garage 59 McLaren dropped to the tail of the order once Q2 commenced.
Barwell’s other Lamborghini driven by Alex Martin and Morgan Tillbrook’s McLaren completed the provisional top six at the end of Q1.
La Source was still a little damp when Q2 got underway, but that was no protection against a new GT3 lap record, with the 2022 qualifying benchmark immediately falling to a flying effort from Goetz. The record would later pass to Raffaele Marciello in the RAM Racing BMW, before a 2m15.624s settled that particular contest in Tom Gamble and Optimum’s favour.
However, on combined times Gamble’s best was still only enough to leave the McLaren seventh overall and three seconds down on 2 Seas’ Mercedes-AMG, which overturned its initial deficit to Barwell. Just like his co-driver, Goetz was ever-present towards the top of the individual lap charts and ultimately finished with a 0.5s advantage over his pursuers.
Petrobelli and Adam looked set for second before Adam ended his session beached on the Campus kerbing. Ricky Collard improved late on to provisionally move onto the front row, but he was later penalised for not slowing sufficiently under the local yellows for Adam’s stricken car.
Ramos slipping to the bottom of the order and Collard’s penalty meant Sandy Mitchell took third in the car he shares with fellow championship leader Martin, while Josh Rowledge underlined the Blackthorn Aston’s pace by moving up to fourth at the expense of Garage 59's Tillbrook and Marcus Clutton. The Vantage was also fastest of the Silver-Am contenders.
2 Seas’ other Mercedes-AMG starts sixth in the hands of Ian Loggie and Phil Keen - one place ahead of the rapid Gamble who shares Optimum's McLaren with Mark Radcliffe.
GT4: DTO CREDITED WITH POLE AFTER QUALIFYING HALTED
DTO Motorsport pairing Freddie Tomlinson and Stuart Middleton will start tomorrow’s race from pole position after GT4 qualifying had to be halted due to barrier damage, with the grid instead being set by the times from the day’s earlier Pre-Qualifying session.
Century Motorsport’s #71 BMW M4 in the hands of Ravi Ramyead crashed at Raidillon with five minutes of the first qualifying segment remaining. Ramyead received assistance in getting out of the car and was later transferred to a local hospital for precautionary scans following the incident. The resulting barrier damage meant it was not possible to resume the remainder of qualifying, with the grid instead being determined by the aggregated times of each driver pairing from Pre-Qualifying earlier in the day.
Tomlinson and Middleton set the fastest combined lap time, handing the DTO Ginetta pole for the second successive event. Forsetti Motorsport’s Marc Warren and Will Orton will start alongside them in their Aston Martin and on Pro-Am class pole, with the CWS Racing Ginetta of Colin White and Tom Holland taking third. Harry George and Luca Hopkinson will start fourth in their RAM Racing Mercedes-AMG, with Ian Gough/Tom Wrigley’s Century BMW and Ian Duggan/Gordie Mutch’s Mahiki Racing Lotus Emira making up row three. Championship leaders Jack Brown and Zac Meakin will start ninth.
Today’s two-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps takes place at 13:00 local time, 12:00 UK and will be shown live on the GT World YouTube channel.
SPA SPEEDWEEK TIMETABLE
SUNDAY 23 JUNE
09:55 – 10:10: Warm-up
13:00 – 15:00: Race
RACE LAP RECORDS
GT3 – 2m18.821s – Seb Morris – Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental GT3 – 2017
GT4 – 2m31.706s – Matthew Graham – Ebor GT Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4 – 2017
PITSTOP SPECIFICS – TWO-HOUR RACE
The number of driver changes are free but there are minimum and maximum total drive times for the starting driver. In GT4 starting drivers must complete a minimum of 58 minutes, while in GT3 this rises to 62 minutes. All classes share the same maximum starting drive time of 70 minutes.
Mandatory Pitstop Times (pit-in to pit-out)
GT3: 120s | GT4: 150s
Pitstop Compensation Time
20s – #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini (GT3) + #90 Optimum Motorsport McLaren (GT4)
15s – #27 Optimum Motorsport McLaren (GT3) + #47 Forsetti Motorsport Aston Martin (GT4)
10s – #6 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG (GT3) + #44 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota (GT4)
All GT4 Silver Cup entries must serve an additional 24s during their mandatory driver changes and carry 25kg of ballast.
