GT Open - A Pole in pole at Portimão: Karol Basz (Olimp Racing Audi) fastest on wet track

Karol Basz is the first poleman of the 2024 GT Open season. The Pole, at the wheel of the Olimp Racing Audi R8 LMS shared with Marcin Jedlinski and entered in Pro-Am, took a sensational pole ahead of Race 1 this morning at Portimão, in a qualifying session held in difficult conditions.

Violent storms soaked the track in the morning and a drizzle came and went throughout the session. Despite this, Basz showed impressive pace, posting a time of 1.57.445 quite early in the session that was not going to be beaten. A red flag two minutes from the end, necessary to rescue the Motopark Mercedes of Menchaca stopped with an electronic problem, ended the fight, with Fabian Schiller (GetSpeed Mercedes) taking second (+0s834).

Basz was obviously a happy man: “It’s nice to start the season like this, especially with such a large and competitive grid as this year’s in the GT Open. The conditions were tricky, never completely dry nor wet, but we made the most out of them.”

In second row will be the Motopark Mercedes of Lukas Dunner (+1s073) and the car collection Porsche of Alex Fontana (+1s125), and in third, the other Motopark Mercedes of Diego Menchaca (+1s386) and the Spirit of Race Ferrari of Michele Rugolo (+1s480).

An impressive Timo Rumpfkeil put the other Mercedes of Motopark in seventh overall, topping the Am rankings.