In the four-part qualifying for the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, three of the twelve Porsche 911 GT3 R advanced into the Superpole. This puts them in the top 20 that will vie for the best grid positions in the Superpole session on Friday from 15:45 hrs (CEST).

Phantom Global Racing clocked the fastest time for a Porsche with sixth place thanks to the driver trio Joel Eriksson from Sweden, Jaxon Evans from New Zealand and the Austrian Thomas Preining. The Schumacher CLRT squad followed closely in seventh position. SSR Herberth qualified on P9. The endurance classic on the Belgian Grand Prix circuit starts on Saturday at 16:30 hrs (CEST).

The Porsche customer teams encountered ideal summer conditions with an air temperature of 25 degrees Celsius and track temperatures of 35 degrees. The fastest lap for a 911 GT3 R was 2:15.163 minutes – shaving 1.7 seconds off Porsche’s top time from last year’s Superpole session. This gain is also due to the new asphalt on various sections of the track, which offers significantly more grip and traction.

The Chinese outfit Phantom Global Racing emerged from today’s qualifying session as the best-placed Porsche customer team. The squad receives support from Porsche brand ambassador Timo Bernhard’s Team75. Joel Eriksson from Sweden and the two former Porsche Juniors Jaxon Evans (New Zealand) and Thomas Preining (Austria) achieved an average lap time of 2:15.689 minutes – earning them sixth place. The French team Schumacher CLRT qualified in seventh, just 0.062 seconds behind.

Two other drivers from the junior programme represent this team, with Ayhancan Güven from Turkey and Germany’s Laurin Heinrich sharing the cockpit with Dorian Boccolacci from France. The German squad SSR Herberth also made it into the so-called Superpole on Friday with its ca. 416 kW (565 PS) 911 GT3 R driven by Australian Matt Campbell and the two Frenchmen Mathieu Jaminet and Frédéric Makowiecki. Barely two weeks ago, these three contested the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team. Jaminet – who like Campbell is another former Porsche Junior – finished third in the Porsche 963 at the IMSA race in Watkins Glen (USA) last Sunday.

The organising SRO Motorsports Group established four classes for the GT World Challenge Europe based on the official FIA driver rankings: Pro, Gold Cup, Silver Cup and Bronze Cup. In the Gold Cup, a combination of one “silver” and two “gold” drivers are eligible to compete. The silver category stipulates four drivers with silver status. In the Bronze Cup, a maximum of one driver may have platinum status and two others must be ranked no higher than silver. Only the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps features the Pro-Am league: in this class, two drivers must be classified as bronze. There are no qualitative restrictions in the Pro class, hence mostly fully professional pairings compete in this classification – albeit, only three drivers are allowed per racing car. This is why participants in this class must forfeit the first of the four qualifying segments.

The final 30-minute Superpole session for the 20 best grid spots gets underway on Friday at 15:45 hrs (CEST). With 66 racing cars entered, the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps is the world’s largest event for GT3 vehicles and counts towards the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC). Drivers and teams receive points for the GT World Challenge ranking after six, twelve and 24 hours. The race will be broadcast live in several languages on the website www.intercontinentalgtchallenge.com.

Qualifying quotes
Sebastian Golz (Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R): “All in all, we achieved a good result, but missed our target – three Porsche in the top 20 falls short of our expectations. We’re now working with the teams to prepare the three eligible Porsche racing cars for the Superpole. At the same time, we’re keen to understand why the other three Pro cars didn’t make it into the top twenty.”

Thomas Preining (Porsche 911 GT3R #23): “That was a decent qualifying session. All three of us got a clean lap without too much traffic – which is unusual for Spa. Despite qualifying for Superpole, there’s some work to do. We’re still not completely happy with the balance of the car. Fundamentally, despite lacking a bit of pace compared to one or two other manufacturers, the 911 GT3 R runs beautifully. But I’m sure we’ll sort it out by the start of the race.”

Laurin Heinrich (Porsche 911 GT3R #22): “With more than 60 cars on the track, qualifying at Spa is always a bit chaotic. It’s extremely important to find a suitable gap. All three of us did exactly that; we found a clear lap, didn’t stray from the track limits and made no other mistakes – that was the key to success today.”

Mathieu Jaminet (Porsche 911 GT3R #92): “I haven’t sat in the cockpit of a GT3 car for more than a year now. It was also my first-ever qualifying session at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R – which was great fun! I set the third-fastest time in my group. Matt Campbell and Frédéric Makowiecki also put in strong drives, so we qualified for the Superpole. So far, I’m enjoying my GT3 comeback…”

Qualifying results
1. (1. Pro) Perera/Mapelli/Pepper (F/CH/ZA), Lamborghini #163, 2:15.275 minutes
2. (2. Pro) Rovera/Rigon/Pier Guidi (I/I/I), Ferrari #51, 2:15.321 minutes
3. (3. Pro) Engel/Morad/Auer (D/CAN/A), Mercedes-AMG #48, 2:15.371 minutes
6. (6. Pro) Evans/Eriksson/Preining (NZ/S/A), Phantom Global Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R #23, 2:15.689 minutes
7. (7. Pro) Güven/Heinrich/Boccolacci (TR/D/F), Schumacher CLRT, Porsche 911 GT3 R #22, 2:15.751 minutes
9. (9. Pro) Jaminet/Campbell/Makowiecki (F/A/F), SSR Herberth, Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, 2:15.828 minutes
27. (20. Pro) Andlauer/Müller/Niederhauser (F/D/CH), Rutronik Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R #96, 2:16.500 minutes
30. (21. Pro) Malykhin/Sturm/Bachler (UK/D/A), PureRxcing, Porsche 911 GT3 R #911, 2:16.574 minutes
43. (9. BC) Sager/Moura de Oliveira/Zöchling/Dienst (A/P/D/D), Dinamic GT, Porsche 911 GT3 R #54, 2:17.043 minutes
44. (23. Pro) Estre/Pilet/Vanthoor (F/F/B), HubAuto Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R #992, 2:17.125 minutes
47. (12. BC) Au/Fach/Rump/Picariello (HK/CH/EST/B), Lionspeed X Herberth, Porsche 911 GT3 R #80, 2:17.191 minutes
59. (10. SC) Rappange/Blom/Nakken/Nouet (NL/FIN/N/F), Dinamic GT, Porsche 911 GT3 R #55, 2:17.949 minutes
62. (18. BC) Bohn/A. Renauer/Schuring/R. Renauer (D/D/NL/D), Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, 2:18.298 minutes
65. (6. PAM) D’Silva/Li/Bamber/Leitch (MAL/USA/NZ/NZ), EBM, Porsche 911 GT3 R #61, 2:21.031 minutes
66. (20. BC) Blattner/Richard Robichon/Marschall/Hartog (USA/CDN/D/NL), Rutronik Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R #97

Pro = Pro class; PAC = Pro-Am Cup; GC = Gold Cup; SC = Silver Cup; BC = Bronze Cup

Full results https://www.gt-world-challenge-europe.com/watch-live