FIA GT Superpole: Garcia reigns

Garcia is sharing the second RWS Porsche 996 N-GT class car with Dieter Quester as the team decided to draft in Sascha Maassen to partner title contender Luca Riccitelli in the lead car. Garcia just squeezed into the Superpole session as the sixth fastest N-GT car, but that proved vital as the rain began to pour just as he completed his lap.

"It was very, very lucky," he admitted. "It's a good experience for me to set pole position, for sure, but my future lies in single-seaters, not GT cars."

Although the shower was short, the track didn't dry sufficiently for the GT class cars to beat the diminutive Porsche. Jamie Campbell-Walter came closest in his Lister Storm, but was still almost 3secs slower.

"I wish I'd gone on intermediates because it was pretty dry," said JC-W. "It was hard to tell that from the TV, though, so we decided to take the safe option."

Mike Hezemans will start third in his Carsport Holland Viper, ahead of Julian Bailey in the second Lister. Alain Menu was fifth quickest in Prodrive's Ferrari 550, while the Vipers of Seb Bleekemolen and recently-crowned champion Christophe Bouchut were next up.

Riccitelli was second quickest in N-GT, while his title rivals - the JMB Ferrari 360 Modena of David Terrien and Christian Pescatori - didn't even make it into the Superpole session.

Antonio Garcia, Porsche 996 GT3-R, 1m45.694s
Jamie Campbell-Walter, Lister Storm, +2.807s
Mike Hezemans, Chrysler Viper, +4.797s
Julian Bailey, Lister Storm, +5.660s
Alain Menu, Ferrari 550 Maranello, +5.865s
Seb Bleekemolen, Chrysler Viper, +6.513s