24 Hours of Spa, Qualifying
The KÜS Team75 Bernhard squad has concluded the qualifying for the Spa 24-hour race on position eight. Earl Bamber (New Zealand), Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) lapped the 7.004-kilometre circuit at the wheel of the #117 Porsche 911 GT3 R in a time of 2:19.843 minutes. With this result, the KÜS Team75 Bernhard has qualified for Friday’s Super Pole, where the 20 fastest cars will fight for the best grid positions for the 24-hour marathon in the Ardennes.
A new qualifying format for the long-distance classic in Belgium was introduced this year: Each driver in a vehicle is given 15 minutes to turn a fast lap. The final qualifying time is determined by the average of the fastest laps set by all drivers in a team.
Driving for Manthey-Racing, Frédéric Makowiecki, Romain Dumas (both France) and Dirk Werner (Germany) also qualified for the top-20 session. With their Porsche 911 GT3 R (#911), the trio achieved a time of 2:20.144 minutes, which ultimately put them on 13th place.
Putting in a strong qualifying performance, Herberth Motorsport planted the #991 Porsche 911 GT3 R on second place in the Am-category. The crew from Black Swan Racing finished the session in the Pro-Am class on seventh. A total of 221 drivers and 63 vehicles tackle this year’s 24 Hours of Spa. Thirteen manufacturers are represented at the 70th edition of the Ardennes marathon, which is regarded as the largest and most important GT3 event in the world.
The schedule
Friday, 27 July
17:45–18:15 hrs: Warm-up Super Pole
18:30–19:00 hrs: Super Pole
Saturday, 28 July
16:30 hrs: Race start
Sunday, 29 July
16:30 hrs: Finish
