Marciello sets pole position for Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup

Raffaele Marciello secured pole position for the Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup qualification race on Friday after a thrilling qualifying session that saw the Swiss and fellow front row starter Dries Vanthoor separated by just 0.053 seconds.

With the track having dried out following the morning rain, and after Thursday’s practice session had run in wet conditions, qualifying was the first time that the field had been able to complete push laps in the dry.

Following an early red flag triggered by Laurin Heinrich swiping the barriers at Lisboa, drivers were finally able to get into a rhythm as the pole position times quickly tumbled in the fight for the top spot.

But it was the two BMWs of Toro Racing powered by MCG driver Marciello and Team WRT’s Vanthoor who seemed destined to grab the front positions – with their cars appearing to have a good straightline speed advantage.

Vanthoor had been quickest after the first round of laps prior to Mercedes-AMG Team GMR driver Maro Engel briefly holding the top spot. But that was before Marciello and Vanthoor then went even quicker, as the field then dived into the pits for some new tyres.

The final push laps on fresh tyres looked set to see further improvements that could shuffle the order, but the session was red flagged with just four minutes remaining after Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver Luca Engstler had a big crash on the exit of Mandarin Bend – badly damaging his car and leaving debris all across the track.

With the session not being restarted, that left Marciello securing pole position from Vanthoor, with Engel taking third place.

Speaking about his hard-fought pole position, Marciello said: “For sure it has not been an easy two days for us, because the conditions were very tricky, but we did a really good first run and it is important to be on the front row here in Macao.”

Antonio Fuoco secured fourth place in his AF Corse SRL Ferrari, ahead of Augusto Farfus in the Team KRC BMW.

Results are HERE