The #4 C. Abt Racing Audi R8 will start tomorrow’s Dubai 24 Hours in pole position, thanks to a lap of 1:57.892 from Christer Joens.
“I was fighting for pole all the tim last year,” said Joens afterwards, “so it’s nice to start the year with this. I didn’t expect to improve to a .57 at the end so it was quite a surprise when I crossed the line. It was a hard and nice fight for pole.”
Fellow German and Audi driver Christopher Mies went second-quickest overall in the Land Motorsport R8, edging out Nicky Pastorelli in the #333 V8 Racing Corvette, which had sat at the top of the timescreens for much of the session.
Laurens Vanthoor qualified the #19 WRT Audi fourth, ahead of Jeroen Bleekemolen in Black Falcon’s new Mercedes-AMG GT and Joe Osborne in the Optimum Motorsport Audi.
A round-up of the polesitters in the other classes:
SP2: Lionel Amrouche – #203 Vortex GC10 V8
Porsche 991: #60 Black Falcon Team TMD Friction Porsche 911 Cup
SP3 (GT4): Bradley Ellis – #223 Optimum Motorsport Ginetta
TCR: Phil Quaife – #1 Memac Ogilvy Racing SEAT Leon
A3 (touring cars): #101 Hofor-Kuepper Racing BMW M3
CUP1 (BMW M235i): George Richardson – #151 Sorg Rennsport BMW M235i
A2 (touring cars): #112 presenza.eu Racing Team Renault Clio
