Mirage and Matmut make their mark in Nürburgring Qualifying

Racing Spirit of Léman doubled Aston’s joy by claiming Silver pole for Race 1, making it a Vantage front-row lockout, while Lotus PB Racing edged to Pro-Am top spot in Q2. W&S Motorsport’s Max Kronberg and Daniel Blickle produced two great efforts to take both Am class poles.

Q1: Aston on top

Stanislav Safronov made a piece of history in Q1 by scoring the first outright GT4 Europe pole position for the new Vantage, and the British brand’s first since the 2024 season opener at Circuit Paul Ricard.

It looked for much of the session like that honour would instead go to Clément Seyler in the #39 Racing Spirit of Léman Vantage after the Luxembourg driver had emerged on top of a tense Silver fight, only for Safronov to better everybody when the Pro-Am and Am runners took over in the second half.

Grégory Guilvert and Benjamin Lariche traded the top time at the start in the twin Team Speedcar Audis, before Josh Rattican went fastest in the Elite Motorsport McLaren that had starred in Pre-Qualifying. Then Seyler made his move, edging 0.006s ahead on his final effort.

That time appeared to be enough, but Safronov had other ideas, taking a further 0.1s off the benchmark to secure the historic pole and with it set a new Qualifying lap record.

Seyler had to settle for second ahead of Rattican, Guilvert and Jan Duran’s Matmut Évolution Toyota. Erik Evans scored an important sixth place for Academy Motorsport, putting the team’s Ford Mustang a place ahead of title rival Lariche’s Audi.

Hendrik Still was second in Pro-Am and seventh overall for the #32 W&S Porsche that leads the class standings, with Edvin Hellsten third for Nova Racing.

A superb effort from Kronberg got the #30 Porsche’s weekend off to a flying start, with the W&S Motorsport car finishing clear of its Am class rivals. Christoffer Brunnhagen will start second aboard the #55 Toyota Gazoo Racing Sweden Supra, ahead of the sister car of Hans Holmlund. Maximilien Huber impressed on his first appearance with fourth in the #27 AV Racing Porsche, with class points leader Antoni de Barn just fifth.

Q2: David beats the Goliaths for first pole 

Hadrien David recorded his first GT4 Europe pole in Qualifying for Race 2, with the Frenchman coming out on top of a five-car battle for honours.

The #87 Matmut Évolution Toyota was a constant threat in David’s hands, but had to fight all the way for the result. As in Q1, the two Team Speedcar Audis set the early pace with first Robert Consani and then Paul Petit topping the times before both Gabriele Piana (#12 Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW) and Will Orton (#39 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin) joined the fray.

Then came David, who went 0.2s clear with his first effort. While Petit and Orton would both improve, they had no answer to David’s lap-four best. Piana got closest, with his late flier good enough for second, 0.09s down. Petit will share row two with Orton with Charlie Hart (RAFA Racing McLaren) and Michiel Haverans (TeamFloral Mustang) on row three. Marco Signoretti again did his bit by putting the Academy Ford ahead of its title rival, finishing a place ahead of Consani in seventh.

Alberto Naska racked up another Pro-Am pole for Lotus PB Racing, the Italian’s best effort putting the Emira P12 overall and 0.1s ahead of Aleksandr Vaintrub in the #7 Mirage Racing Aston Martin. Cindy Gudet took third in the #38 Matmut Toyota. Points leader Joachim Bölting endured a tough session and will start the #32 Porsche 10th.

Daniel Blickle backed up Kronberg’s strong work to make it a double Am pole for W&S on home turf. He just held off Holmlund’s challenge by 0.19s to secure the result, while Romain Vozniak was third fastest on his return to action for AV Racing. Jean-Mathieu Leandri starts fifth in the points-leading Chazel Technologie Course BMW.

Results are HERE