Porsche customer team Huber Motorsport will start the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps from pole position. The endurance classic is considered the most important race in the world for vehicles according to FIA GT3 regulations. Matteo Cairoli set the fastest time on the Belgian Grand Prix circuit on Friday afternoon in 2:16.880 minutes. The former Porsche Junior from Italy shares the 911 GT3 R of the German racing team with Antares Au from Hong Kong and the two Germans Tim Heinemann and Jannes Fittje. Third place went to Pure Rxcing with Austrian Klaus Bachler at the wheel. Eighth place went to French Porsche works driver Frédéric Makowiecki for Team CLRT.

A total of six nine-elevens had made it into the Super Pole individual time trial of the top 20 in the rainy qualifying on Thursday evening. As a result, they were allowed to take part in the Super Pole session on Friday and fight for the best grid positions for the endurance race on the 7.004-kilometre Formula 1 circuit. Matteo Cairoli had set off on his two flying laps in third last place. Already at the first attempt, the Italian drove to the top position. In the end, he had the upper hand by 0.116 seconds and secured pole position for himself, his team Hubert Motorsport and his teammates.

Klaus Bachler was also aiming for the front grid position. The nine-eleven from Pure Rxcing had set the best average time of all drivers in the four-part qualifying session on Thursday. Accordingly, the Austrian was allowed to take to the track last in the Super Pole session. In his first attempt, he set a time of 2:37.232 minutes, and on his second lap he slipped briefly off the track. Together with his team-mates Joel Sturm and Marco Seefried from Germany and Aliaksandr Malykhin (Great Britain), he will start Saturday's race from the second row of the grid.

The eighth best time went to Frédéric Makowiecki. The Porsche works driver shares the 911 GT3 R of Team CLRT with his French compatriots Clément Mateu, Hugo Chevallier and Steven Palette. As a result, three Porsches occupy the top three grid positions in the Bronze Cup category. As the best pro car, Julien Andlauer drove the so-called Grello of the Manthey EMA customer racing team to 14th position. The former Porsche junior's first flying lap was cancelled due to exceeding the track limits. Andlauer forms a team together with works drivers Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium and Kévin Estre (France). Robert Renauer placed the nine-eleven of Herberth Motorsport in 15th place.

The German shares the wheel of the GT3 race car with up to 416 kW (565 hp) with his brother Alfred, Ralf Bohn from Germany and Kay van Berlo from the Netherlands. Earl Bamber was the sixth and last Porsche to finish the Super Pole session in 17th place. The New Zealander – overall winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015 and 2017 as a Porsche works driver – forms the driver quartet of Grove Racing together with Australians Anton de Pasquale, Stephen and Brenton Grove.

The 24-hour race on the Belgian Grand Prix circuit is considered the largest event for GT3 cars in the world. It counts towards the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup as well as the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC). Drivers and cars receive points for the GT World Challenge after six, twelve and 24 hours. The race will be live-streamed on the website www.intercontinentalgtchallenge.com.

Quotes on qualifying
Sebastian Golz (Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R): "Compliments to Huber Motorsport – Matteo Cairoli conjured up a flawless lap in a brilliant manner. Klaus Bachler also delivered a mega performance and got to the heart of the matter in his first round. Our client teams are very strong and have established a good starting position in all the classes in which we are involved. Even if that was only half the battle today, we have created the basis and will now make sure that we focus on 24-hour lanRace."

Matteo Cairoli (Porsche 911 GT3 R #20): "This pole position feels really good – especially because I didn't expect such a success at all. In yesterday's pre-qualifying, we were still a bit off the mark with the set-up of our car in comparable conditions. We didn't know if the changes we made would work. But the Porsche 911 GT3 R was really fast today and gave me a good feeling. I was able to achieve my fastest lap right on my first attempt. On the second lap I was even faster, but then I made a small mistake and stopped the lap. It doesn't matter, it was enough..."

Klaus Bachler (Porsche 911 GT3R #911): "Third place gives us an excellent starting position. Our 911 GT3 R works great, we have prepared ourselves very well. We drivers are also in top shape and highly motivated. Everything is going according to plan. We're really looking forward to the race."

Frédéric Makowiecki (Porsche 911 GT3R #44): "I'm proud of the team! It will be her first appearance at the 24 Hours of Spa. We delivered a good performance. Of course, we can still improve small things, but our Porsche is already doing very well. Now we are building on the experience we have gained. Our starting position is right, now we're looking forward to a strong race."

Results Super Pole Session
1st (BC) Au/Heinemann/Cairoli/Fittje (HK/D/I/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #20, 2:16.880 minutes 2nd (1st Pro) Rovera/Shwartzmann/Nielsen (I/ISR/DK) Ferrari 296 GT3 #51, 2:16.996 minutes 3rd (2nd BC) Bachler/Malykhin/Sturm/Seefried (A/UK/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #911, 2:17.232 minutes

8th (3rd BC) Palette/Mateu/Makowiecki/Chevalier (F/F/F/F), Porsche 911 GT3 R #44, 2:17.399 minutes
14th (6th Pro) Vanthoor/Estre/Andlauer (B/F/F). Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, 2:17.791 minutes 15th (5th BC) Bohn/A. Renauer/R. Renauer/van Berlo (D/D/D/NL), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, 2:17.835 minutes 17th (6th BC) B. Grove/S. Grove/Bamber/de Pasquale (OFF/OFF/NZ/OFF), Porsche 911 GT3 R #23, 2:17.997 minutes

The other grid positions
30th (15th Pro) Preining/Heinrich/Olsen (A/D/N), Porsche 911 GT3 R #96, 2:32.039 minutes 31st (9th BC) Pierce/Jewiss/Meyrick/Maassen (UK/UK/UK/NL), Porsche 911 GT3 R #62, 2:32.104 minutes 35th (2nd PAC) Leutwiler/Jacoma/Fontana/Menzel (CH/CH/CH/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #24, 2:32.405 minutes

37th (16th Pro) Güven/Müller/Engelhart (TR/D/D) Porsche 911 GT3 R #54, 2:32.704 minutes 55th (17th BC) Sager/Nakken/Barker/Zöchling (A/N/UK/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #55, 2:35.620 minutes 58th (8th SC) Sathienthirakul/Rappange/di Amato/de Leener (T/NL/I/UK), Porsche 911 GT3 R #56, 2:38.436 minutes

67th (10th PAC) Tjia/Shen/Simonsen/Beche (HK/HK/DKCH), Porsche 911 GT3 R #216, no time
68th (11th PAC): Washington/Sofronas/Bleekemolen/Long (USA/USA/NL/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 R #132, no time

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