Kumpen on pole at Oschersleben
Anthony Kumpen recovered from an early off to take a clear pole position for Corvette for this weekend's FIA GT Championship round at Oschersleben
The Belgian was fortunate to get away with putting all four wheels of his C5.R onto the grass early in the session, but he pitted, had the car checked, and then took pole by seven tenths of a second.
Sharing the front row with him will be the All-Inkl.com Racing Lamborghini Murcielago of Stefan Mucke. The local man just managed to edge out Karl Wendlinger's Jetalliance Racing Aston Martin DBR9, but both were some way ahead of the best Maserati.
That was the Scuderia Playteam car of Andrea Bertolini, which was over a second away from pole in fourth.
None of the Maseratis have looked comfortable around the twisty German track today, and the two Vitaphone Racing cars had to settle for sixth and ninth positions.
Christian Montanari qualified the faster car, while team owner Michael Bartels chose to qualify his car for the first time this season.
Andrew Kirkaldy took his 10th FIA GT class pole position in just two seasons by going fastest in GT2, where the Ferraris appear to have a clear advantage.
His Scuderia Ecosse 430 headed the similar AF Corse cars driven by Dirk Muller and Gianmaria Bruni, the latter lucky to survive an early spin. The best Porsche was fourth, thanks to British Tech 9 driver Sean Edwards.
Pos Cl Driver Car Time 1. GT1 Kumpen/Longin Corvette C5.R 1:24.492 2. GT1 Bouchut/Mucke Lamborghini Murcielago + 0.711 3. GT1 Wendlinger/Sharp Aston Martin DBR9 + 0.737 4. GT1 Bertolini/Piccini Maserati MC12 GT1 + 1.213 5. GT1 Lichtner-Hoyer/Lechner Aston Martin DBR9 + 1.688 6. GT1 Ramos/Montanari Maserati MC12 GT1 + 1.778 7. GT1 Deletraz/Hezemans Corvette C6.R + 1.802 8. GT1 Babini/Davies Aston Martin DBR9 + 1.865 9. GT1 Bartels/Biagi Maserati MC12 GT1 + 1.908 10. GT1 Menten/Kox Lamborghini Murcielago + 2.085 11. GT1 Giannoccaro/Pier Guidi Maserati MC12 GT1 + 2.089 12. GT1 Alessi/Monfardini Aston Martin DBR9 + 2.740 13. GT2 Niarchos/Kirkaldy Ferrari 430 GT2 + 5.567 14. GT2 Vilander/Muller Ferrari 430 GT2 + 5.659 15. GT2 Bruni/Ortelli Ferrari 430 GT2 + 5.822 16. GT2 Machitski/Edwards Porsche 997 GT3 RSR + 5.937 17. GT1 Macari/Aucott Maserati MC12 GT1 + 6.069 18. GT2 Mullen/Janis Ferrari 430 GT2 + 6.158 19. GT2 Collard/Malucelli Porsche 997 GT3 RSR + 6.292 20. GT2 Busnelli/Zani Porsche 997 GT3 RSR + 6.561 21. GT2 Ruberti/Pasini Ferrari 430 GT2 + 7.432 22. GT2 Cressoni/Rugolo Ferrari 430 GT2 + 7.609 23. GT1 Gosse/Kutemann Maserati MC12 GT1 + 8.693
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