Exim Porsche quickest in World GT1 qualifying at damp Zolder
New Zealander Matt Halliday claimed a maiden FIA GT1 World Championship pole position aboard the Exim Bank Team China Porsche at Zolder
Former Champ Car and A1GP driver Halliday, who has moved over to GT1 from the Porsche Supercup, headed the times throughout Q3 as the leading contenders ran slick tyres for the first time in the three-round qualifying procedure. Halliday's final lap of 1m33.568s aboard his Muhlner-run Porsche 911 GT3-R was good enough to give him pole by two tenths of a second ahead of WRT Audi driver Frank Stippler.
Halliday, who shares the lead Exim Porsche with Mike Parisy, said: "The conditions were changing, so you've got to keep on your toes. We decided to go for slicks and it was definitely the right choice."
Third, behind the Audi R8 LMS ultra Stippler shares with Oliver Jarvis, was Darryl O'Young in the best of the Reiter Engineering Lamborgini Gallardo LP560s. The Hong Kong driver was just two tenths slower than Stippler.
Munnich Mercedes driver Tomas Jager edged out Laurens Vanthoor (WRT Audi) for fourth place, by just three hundredths of a second.
Pos Drivers Team/Car Time Gap
1. Parisy/Halliday Exim Porsche 1m33.568s
2. Stippler/Jarvis WRT Audi 1m33.704s + 0.136s
3. O'Young/Kox Reiter Lamborghini 1m33.936s + 0.368s
4. Pastorelli/Jager Munnich Mercedes 1m34.004s + 0.436s
5. Ortelli/Vanthoor WRT Audi 1m34.034s + 0.466s
6. Buurman/Bartels Vita4One BMW 1m34.145s + 0.577s
7. Basseng/Winkelhock Munnich Mercedes 1m34.384s + 0.816s
8. von Thurn und Taxis/Enge Reiter Lamborghini 1m39.132s + 5.564s
9. Vilander/Salaquarda AF Corse Ferrari 1m41.489s Q2
10. Makowiecki/Dusseldorp Hexis McLaren 1m41.623s Q2
11. Mayr-Melnhof/Lauda Vita4One BMW 1m41.796s Q2
12. Ide/Castellacci AF Corse Ferrari 1m42.017s Q2
13. Martin/Vasiliev Valmon Aston 1m43.449s Q2
14. Lariche/Wei Exim Porsche 1m48.196s Q2
15. Pavlovic/Cressoni Sunred Ford 1m46.490s Q1
16. Demoustier/Parente Hexis McLaren 1m53.099s Q1
17. Zuber/Afanasiev Valmon Aston Q1
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