Vitaphone dominates Brno qualifying
Reigning FIA GT champions Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels took pole for the third round of the GT1 World Championship at Brno this weekend
The Vitaphone Maserati pairing dominated all three sessions of qualifying before Bertolini secured pole with a stunning 1m55.441s.
"Brno is really good for our car, so it's really important we score well this weekend," said Bertolini.
Enrique Bernoldi underlined the MC12's pace around the Czech track by securing second. The ex-Formula 1 racer was the only other driver under 1m56s in the #2 Maserati he shares with Miguel Ramos.
Local star Tomas Enge was best of the rest in the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DBR9 he will drive with Darren Turner, but Enge was nearly 0.9 seconds off pole.
Michael Krumm starred for the Sumo Power GT Nissan team, going third quickest in Q1 before securing fourth in the final session.
There were three Maseratis in the top eight, but the final session also included an Aston, a Nissan, a Chevrolet Corvette (Xavier Maasen was fifth) and a Lamborghini Murcielago (sixth for Nicky Pastorelli).
There would have been two Lambos in the session, but the Maxim Martin/Bas Leinders example failed to take part after Martin flew off into the gravel in Q2 immediately after setting a time good enough to qualify for Q3. They will therefore start eighth.
Round one winners Romain Grosjean and Thomas Mutsch will start 10th after Mutsch could not make it into the crucial top eight with his late Q2 effort. Former Renault F1 driver Grosjean had already shown the Matech Ford GT's pace, taking fourth in Q1 with a time that would have been good enough for third in the final session.
The main shock of the first session was the fall of Silverstone winners Warren Hughes and Jamie Campbell-Walter in the second Sumo Power Nissan. Hughes did not make the cut after a late effort was only good enough for 21st.
Pos Drivers Team/Car Time Session 1. Bertolini/Bartels Vitaphone Maserati 1m55.441s Q3 2. Bernoldi/Ramos Vitaphone Maserati 1m55.836s Q3 3. Enge/Turner Young Driver Aston 1m56.304s Q3 4. Krumm/Dumbreck Sumo Power Nissan 1m56.312s Q3 5. Maassen/Hezemans Phoenix Corvette 1m56.543s Q3 6. Pastorelli/Schwager Munnich Lamborghini 1m56.983s Q3 7. Margaritis/Heger Triple H Maserati 1m56.984s Q3 8. Leinders/Martin Marc VDS Ford Q3 9. Makowiecki/Sarrazin Hexis Aston Martin 1m57.385s Q2 10. Grosjean/Mutsch Matech Ford 1m57.474s Q2 11. Bobbi/Longin Triple H Maserati 1m57.488s Q2 12. Rosina/Hennerici Phoenix Corvette 1m58.291s Q2 13. Hirschi/Piccione Hexis Aston Martin 1m57.686s Q2 14. Mucke/Nygaard Young Driver Aston 1m57.884s Q2 15. Wendlinger/Moser Swiss Nissan 1m58.667s Q2 16. Salo/Kuismanen Mad-Croc Corvette 2m01.575s Q2 17. Ara/Nilsson Swiss Nissan 1m57.649s Q1 18. Palttala/Kuppens Marc VDS Ford 1m57.778s Q1 19. Kox/Haase Reiter Lamborghini 1m57.902s Q1 20. Basseng/Jager Munnich Lamborghini 1m58.141s Q1 21. Hughes/Campbell-Walter Sumo Power Nissan 1m58.599s Q1 22. Kechele/Danis Reiter Lamborghini 1m58.658s Q1 23. Frey/Allemann Matech Ford 2m00.211s Q1
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