Vitaphone Racing claim Mugello pole
Championship leaders Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini will start tomorrow's FIA GT race at Mugello from the front of the grid
The Vitaphone Racing duo set the fastest time in today's qualifying session, which took place on a drying track, in their Maserati MC12.
The conditions led to a last-minute flyer from Zakspeed Racing whose Saleen S7R, driven by Sascha Bert, claimed second place after changing to slick tyres in the dying moments of the session.
Having finished in fifth place in the last round at Dijon, Bartels and Bertolini have shed some of their success ballast and recorded a best lap time of 1:48.436.
"It was a very exciting session," said Bertolini, who qualified the car. "The team's call to change the tyres [from intermediates to slicks] was perfect."
Lining up third on the grid will be the Playteam Maserati, which is in its first outing of the season in the FIA GT series and was qualified today by Toni Vilander.
The MC12 only just made the session, having had a major crash in the morning practice session. "I started qualifying and the car was not ready," said Vilander.
"I had to do an out and in lap and I did it without power steering. I thought that was the end of the session, but they fixed it."
Meanwhile, the fourth and fifth placed finishers - the Aston Martin DBR9s of BMS's Fabrizio Gollin and RaceAlliance's Karl Wendlinger - set identical times.
In the GT2 class, Andrew Kirkaldy once again put his Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 430 on pole position, ahead of the similar car of rival AF Corse driver Jaime Melo.
At one point in the session Kirkaldy had been running second overall. "I was brave enough to go on slicks earlier than the others," he said.
Pos Cl. Drivers Make Time 1. GT1 Bartels/Bertolini Maserati MC12 GT1 1:48.436 2. GT1 Bert/Montermini/Janis Saleen S7R 1:48.672 + 0.236 3. GT1 Giannoccaro/Vilander Maserati MC12 GT1 1:49.109 + 0.673 4. GT1 Gollin/Ramos Aston Martin DBR9 1:49.256 + 0.820 5. GT1 Wendlinger/Peter Aston Martin DBR9 1:49.256 + 0.820 6. GT1 Pescatori/Babini Aston Martin DBR9 1:49.279 + 0.843 7. GT1 Deletraz/Piccini Aston Martin DBR9 1:49.701 + 1.265 8. GT1 Davies/Biagi Maserati MC12 GT1 1:49.776 + 1.340 9. GT1 Balfe/Taylor Saleen S7R 1:51.291 + 2.855 10. GT2 Kinch/Kirkaldy Ferrari 430 GT2 1:53.229 + 4.793 11. GT2 Bobbi/Melo Ferrari 430 GT2 1:53.278 + 4.842 12. GT2 Salo/Aguas Ferrari 430 GT2 1:53.859 + 5.423 13. GT2 Niarchos/Mullen Ferrari 430 GT2 1:54.108 + 5.672 14. GT2 Sugden/Alexander Ferrari 430 GT2 1:54.597 + 6.161 15. GT2 Collard/Riccitelli Porsche 996 GT3 1:54.791 + 6.355 16. GT2 Moccia/Busnelli Porsche 996 GT3 1:55.896 + 7.460 17. GT1 Longin/Kumpen/Hezemans Corvette C6R 1:57.047 + 8.611 18. G2 Leinders/Kuppens Gillet Vertigo 1:57.555 + 9.119 19. GT2 Ried/Felbermayr Jr Porsche 996 GT3 1:58.030 + 9.594 20. GT2 Konopka/Rosina Porsche 996 GT3 1:59.171 + 10.735 21. GT2 Felbermayr/Ried Porsche 996 GT3 2:05.054 + 16.618 22. GT2 Lichtner-Hoyer/Gruber Porsche 996 GT3 2:06.730 + 18.294 23. GT2 Gosse/Kutemann Ferrari 430 GT2 2:10.179 + 21.743
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