HTP Mercedes driver Maximilian Buhk claimed pole position for the opening round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at Monza.
The German jumped to the top spot aboard his Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the closing stages of the final 15-minute qualifying session with a 1m47.509s.
That gave him the pole by just 0.016s from the RJN Motorsport Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 driven by Alex Buncombe.
Buhk said: “Pole is always good and we weren’t expecting it today.
“Pole means we can hopefully stay out of trouble at the first corner and for the first few laps.”
Buncombe’s second-placed Nissan was in turn just 0.067s ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella, who took the pro-am class pole aboard his AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3.
Matteo Malucelli claimed fourth, and second in pro-am, for the Scuderia Praha Ferrari squad.
Clemens Schmid lined-up fifth in his HTP Merc, ahead of Andy Soucek in the best of the M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3s.
The top 20 cars were within half a second around the 3.60-mile Monza circuit and the first 31 within a second.
RESULT
| Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pro | M.Buhk, D.Baumann, J.Jaafar | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 1m47.509s |
| 2 | Pro | M.Takaboshi, A.Buncombe, L.Ordonez | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 0.016s |
| 3 | Pro-Am | M.Ishikawa, L.Bontempelli, G.Fisichella | AF Corse | Ferrari | 0.067s |
| 4 | Pro-Am | J.Pisarik, M.Malucelli | Scuderia Praha | Ferrari | 0.099s |
| 5 | Pro | C.Schmid, I.Dontje, L.Bacheta | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 0.101s |
| 6 | Pro | A.Soucek, M.Soulet, W.Reip | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 0.129s |
| 7 | Pro | L.Vanthoor, D.Vanthoor, F.Vervisch | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 0.137s |
| 8 | Pro-Am | D.Cameron, M.Griffin | AF Corse | Ferrari | 0.162s |
| 9 | Pro | P.Lathouras, M.Rugolo, A.P.Guidi | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 0.196s |
| 10 | Pro-Am | S.Parrow, A.Mattschull, D.Keilwitz | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 0.202s |
| 11 | Pro-Am | M.Broniszewski, A.Rizzoli, A.Bonacini | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 0.260s |
| 12 | Pro-Am | A.Al Harthy, J.Adam, D.Modell | Oman Racing Team | Aston Martin | 0.264s |
| 13 | Pro-Am | H.Hassid, P.Giauque, F.Perera | ISR | Audi | 0.319s |
| 14 | Pro | A.Watson, S.Moore, A.Fontana | Garage 59 | McLaren | 0.331s |
| 15 | Pro | L.Frey, S.Ortelli, A.Costa | Emil Frey Racing | Jaguar | 0.427s |
| 16 | Pro-Am | O.Morley, M.Toril, M.Engel | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 0.439s |
| 17 | Pro | H.Haupt, A.Christodoulou, A.Simonsen | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 0.452s |
| 18 | Pro | J.Bleekemolen, M.Bortolotti, R.Ineichen | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 0.454s |
| 19 | Pro | A.Garcia, N.Muller, W.Stevens | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 0.573s |
| 20 | Pro | R.Bell, C.Ledogar, S.Gisbergen | Garage 59 | McLaren | 0.604s |
| 21 | Am | P.Mann, F.Guedes, R.Mastronardi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 0.693s |
| 22 | Pro | F.Salaquarda, F.Stippler, M.Stockinger | ISR | Audi | 0.824s |
| 23 | Pro | R.Salikhov, M.Seefried, N.Siedler | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 0.834s |
| 24 | Pro-Am | C.Kelders, M.Rostan, M.Bonanomi | Sainteloc Junior Team | Audi | 0.863s |
| 25 | Pro-Am | L.Machitski, M.Attard, M.Mapelli | Barwell Motorsport | Lamborghini | 0.877s |
| 26 | Pro | J-F.Laberge, A.Tagliani, D.O’Young | Zakspeed | Mercedes | 0.908s |
| 27 | Pro | R.Baptista, S.Jimenez, F.Albuquerque | Team WRT | Audi | 0.935s |
| 28 | Am | D.Pierce, C.Cooper, C.Harris | Team Parker Racing | Bentley | 0.969s |
| 29 | Pro-Am | J.Haring, N.Armindo, C.Mateu | Attempto Racing | Porsche | 0.972s |
| 30 | Am | S.Earle, B.Delhez, D.Perel | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 0.983s |
| 31 | Pro | G.Guilvert, M.Parisy, C.Haase | Sainteloc Junior Team | Audi | 1.008s |
| 32 | Pro-Am | M.Koebolt, S.Colombo, G.Roda | BMW Team Italia | BMW | 1.043s |
| 33 | Am | A.Moiseev, G.Kondakov, R.Ragazzi | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 1.065s |
| 34 | Pro | S.Kane, G.Smith, V.Abril | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 1.121s |
| 35 | Pro | L.Stolz, M.Beretta, A.Piccini | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 1.123s |
| 36 | Pro-Am | I.Loggie, C.MacLeod, T.O.-Cole | Team Parker Racing | Bentley | 1.127s |
| 37 | Pro-Am | R.Sarazin, M.Simmons, S.Walkinshaw | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 1.163s |
| 38 | Pro | M.Meadows, S.Leonard, R.Frijns | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1.168s |
| 39 | Pro | A.De Leener, P.Kox, P.Kaffer | Team WRT | Audi | 1.192s |
| 40 | Pro-Am | M.Poole, R.Abra, J.Osborne | Barwell Motorsport | Lamborghini | 1.192s |
| 41 | Pro | C.Zochling, J.Gounon, C.Bruck | Konrad Motorsport | Lamborghini | 1.197s |
| 42 | Pro-Am | L.Cazenave, M.Lyons, D.Perfetti | Akka ASP | Mercedes | 1.224s |
| 43 | Pro-Am | M.Van Splunteren, J.Mul, L.Machiels | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | 1.236s |
| 44 | Am | J-L.Beaubelique, M.Ricci, G.Vannelet | Akka ASP | Mercedes | 1.260s |
| 45 | Pro | E.P-Companc, R.Giammaria, A.Balzan | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 1.276s |
| 46 | Pro-Am | B.Lariche, T.Filler, D.Lunardi | CMR by Sport Garage | Ferrari | 1.307s |
| 47 | Pro | S.Dusseldorp, K.Graf, L.Luhr | ROWE Racing | BMW | 1.572s |
| 48 | Am | M.Zanuttini, L.Talbot, V.Gitlin | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 1.584s |
| 49 | Am | P.Ehret, S.Vancampenh. | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 1.601s |
| 50 | Pro | P.Eng, A.Sims, D.Werner | ROWE Racing | BMW | 1.785s |
| 51 | Pro-Am | M.Beretta, G.Berton, S.Costantini | Ombra Racing | Lamborghini | 1.900s |
| 52 | Pro-Am | L.Case, A.Di Folco, C.Passuti | Antonelli Motorsport | Lamborghini | 2.103s |
| 53 | Pro-Am | R.Narac, T.Cornac, M.Jousse | IMSA Performance | Porsche | 2.289s |
| 54 | Pro | D.Zampieri, P.Niederhauser, F.Babini | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | 2.303s |
| 55 | Pro-Am | O.Grotz, K.Ojjeh, J.Darras | Boutsen Ginion Racing | BMW | 2.531s |
| 56 | Am | M.Konopka, A.Lewandowski, T.Myszkowski | ARC Bratislava | Lamborghini | 3.938s |
| 57 | Am | T.Nicolle, N.Stievenart, M.Sourd | CMR by Sport Garage | Ferrari | 4.528s |
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