Frederic Makowiecki takes pole position for Hexis McLaren at Nurburgring
Frederic Makowiecki claimed pole position for the Hexis McLaren team at the penultimate round of the FIA GT1 World Championship at the Nurburgring
The Frenchman, who is paired in the team's lead MP4-12C with Stef Dusseldorp, topped the times in the final segment of the three-round qualifying session on a 1m55.024s.
That put him three tenths ahead of Laurens Vanthoor in the WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra he shares with Stephane Ortelli.
Makowiecki said: "I didn't do a perfect lap. I was up on the first sector on the next lap, but then I made a mistake. It's good to be at the front, especially on this track, because the first corner is a little bit tricky."
Third place went to Oliver Jarvis in the second WRT Audi, which he co-drives with Frank Stippler, on a time a further two tenths back.
Makowiecki and Dusseldorp, who are looking to overturn a 17-point deficit in the drivers' standings over the final two weekends of the championship, significantly outperformed their rivals for the title.
Marc Basseng, who is second in the points with team-mate Markus Winkelhock, ended up eighth in the times in Qualifying 3 aboard the lead All-Inkl.com Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, while championship leaders Michael Bartels and Yelmer Buurman ended up 11th after the former failed to make it through Q2 aboard the lead Vita4One BMW Z4.
The 13-car GT1 grid is bolstered at the 'Ring by 11 cars from the FIA GT3 European Championship.
Championship leaders Maximilian Buhk and Dominik Baumann qualified their Heico Gravity-Charouz Mercedes on pole for each of the two races.
Pos Drivers Team/Car Time Gap 1. Makowiecki/Dusseldorp Hexis McLaren 1m55.024s 2. Vanthoor/Ortelli WRT Audi 1m55.390s + 0.366s 3. Jarvis/Stippler WRT Audi 1m55.574s + 0.550s 4. Pastorelli/Jager Munnich Mercedes 1m55.811s + 0.787s 5. Kox/Rosina Reiter Lamborghini 1m55.922s + 0.898s 6. Parisy/Bleekemolen Reiter Lamborghini 1m56.263s + 1.239s 7. Demoustier/Parente Hexis McLaren 1m56.370s + 1.346s 8. Basseng/Winkelhock Munnich Mercedes 1m56.587s + 1.563s 9. Ide/Castellacci AF Ferrari 1m56.187s Q2 10. Buurman/Bartels Vita4One BMW 1m56.280s Q2 11. Vilander/Salaquarda AF Ferrari 1m56.305s Q2 12. Lauda/Mayr-Melnhof Vita4One BMW 1m56.343s Q2 13. Lariche/Groppi SUNRED Ford 1m57.151s Q2
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Jota's first Le Mans car to return to competition
Why Porsche doesn't expect another WEC domination at Imola
Why Peugeot had no choice but to revamp its radical Le Mans Hypercar
How MotoGP brakes work: Secrets of stopping a 220mph bike
Hyundai enacts contingency plan after WRC Kenya fuel issue
Vanwall working on 2025 WEC comeback with heavily-revised Hypercar
Russell: Mercedes locked in F1 "battle of fine margins"
Why Rossi's serious approach to car racing in 2024 may create a dilemma
How a 128-day Mercedes miracle crushed its opposition
The F1 technology behind Mercedes’ Nordschleife record hypercar
How to get the best out of amateur racers
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments