Turner takes pole for Aston Martin
Aston Martin driver Darren Turner claimed pole position for this afternoon's qualifying race at the Nurburgring FIA GT1 World Championship event
Turner, who shares his Young Driver AMR Aston DBR9 with Tomas Enge, ended up second fastest in Q1 and then topped the times when it mattered in Q3. His pole time of 1m57.155s was four tenths of a second quicker than Peter Kox in the best of the Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago R-SVs.
"This is a great turnaround because at the past couple of races we've struggled to make it out of Q3," said Turner. "We've had 20kg taken off for this race [under the balance of performance rules] and it has made a big difference."
Dominik Schwager made it two Lamborghinis in the top three. The All-Inkl.com driver edged out Marc Hennerici's Phoenix/Carsport Chevrolet Corvette by less than one tenth of a second.
Casualties in the first round of qualifying included championship front runner Thomas Mutsch, whose Matech Ford GT was bumped down to 22nd in the closing seconds. The Sumo Power Nissan GT-R driven by Silverstone race winner Warren Hughes also failed to make it through.
Pos Drivers Car Time Session 1. Turner/Enge Aston Martin 1m57.155s Q3 2. Kox/Haase Lamborghini 1m57.596s Q3 3. Schwager/Pastorelli Lamborghini 1m57.858s Q3 4. Hennerici/Margaritis Corvette 1m57.916s Q3 5. Bertolini/Bartels Maserati 1m58.467s Q3 6. Longin/Guidi Maserati 1m58.688s Q3 7. Zonta/Kechele Lamborghini 1m59.011s Q3 8. Nygaard/Mucke Aston Martin Q3 9. Krumm/Dumbreck Nissan 1m57.991s Q2 10. Maassen/Menten Corvette 1m58.047s Q2 11. Prost/Jani Ford 1m58.253s Q2 12. Piccione/Hirschi Aston Martin 1m58.523s Q2 13. Makowiecki/Clairay Aston Martin 1m58.642s Q2 14. Wendlinger/Moser Nissan 1m59.086s Q2 15. Basseng/Jager Lamborghini 1m59.430s Q2 16. Martin/Leinders Ford 1m59.606s Q2 17. Ara/Nilsson Nissan 1m59.008s Q1 18. Ramos/Bernoldi Maserati 1m59.037s Q1 19. Hughes/Campbell-Walter Nissan 1m59.094s Q1 20. Heger/Muller Maserati 1m59.128s Q1 21. Salo/Kuismanen Corvette 1m59.202s Q1 22. Mutsch/Westbrook Ford 1m59.211s Q1 23. Kuppens/Palttala Ford 1m59.300s Q1
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