Nissan dominates GT1 qualifying
The Nissan quartet will fill the first two rows of the grid for the GT1 World Championship qualifying race at Portimao today
Richard Westbrook put the #22 JR car he shares with Peter Dumbreck on pole by 0.090 seconds over the Enrique Bernoldi and Ricardo Zonta Sumo Power Nissan.
Lucas Luhr (JR) and Jamie Campbell-Walter (Sumo Power) were third and fifth, sandwiching Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner's Young Driver Aston Martin, which will receive a grid penalty for an engine change, moving the second Sumo Power car up.
Swiss Racing Team's Karl Wendlinger and Peter Kox were the top Lamborghini runners in sixth, ahead of the Hexis Aston Martin of Clivio Piccione and Stef Dusseldorp.
Best Ford was the #41 Marc VDS entry, in which Yann Clairay is substituting for Frederic Makowiecki this weekend due to the clashing Le Mans Series/Intercontinental Le Mans Cup race at Spa. Clairay and team-mate Maxime Martin made the Q3 cut but chose to settle for eighth on the grid.
The All-Inkl Lamborghini team - which had been quickest in both qualifying sessions so far this year, won both Zolder races and led the way in Friday practice - had a disastrous session.
Suspected transmission problems halted both cars in the initial segments of qualifying, leaving championship leaders Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock back in 13th on the grid and Nicky Pastorelli and Dominik Schwager last of all, having not even completed a flying lap.
Pos Drivers Team/Car Time Gap 1. Westbrook/Dumbreck JRM Nissan 1m42.427s 2. Bernoldi/Zonta Sumo Power Nissan 1m42.517s + 0.090s 3. Luhr/Krumm JRM Nissan 1m42.574s + 0.147s 4. Mucke/Turner Young Driver Aston 1m42.726s + 0.299s 5. Campbell-Walter/Brabham Sumo Power Nissan 1m43.061s + 0.634s 6. Wendlinger/Kox Swiss Lamborghini 1m43.733s + 1.306s 7. Piccione/Dusseldorp Hexis Aston 1m44.157s + 1.730s 8. Clairay/Martin Marc VDS Ford no time 9. Enge/Muller Young Driver Aston 1m43.534s (Q2) 10. Hennerici/Leinders Marc VDS Ford 1m43.579s (Q2) 11. Hohenadel/Piccini Hexis Aston 1m43.646s (Q2) 12. Hezemans/Catsburg China Corvette 1m43.727s (Q2) 13. Winkelhock/Basseng All-Inkl Lamborghini 1m43.795s (Q2) 14. Nilsson/Janak Swiss Lamborghini 1m43.966s (Q2) 15. Bobbi/Rossi DKR Corvette 1m44.182s (Q1) 16. Nygaard/Ickx Belgian Ford 1m44.650s (Q1) 17. Matzke/Leclerc Belgian Ford 1m45.359s (Q1) 18. Pastorelli/Schwager All-Inkl Lamborghini no time (Q1)
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