BMW and WRT leave it late to seal Suzuka 1000km pole

Charles Weerts dodged Suzuka’s rush hour traffic to bag pole position for the 49th Summer Endurance Race alongside Team WRT co-drivers Raffaele Marciello and Kelvin van der Linde.

The #32 BMW appeared odds-on to start Round 4 of this year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge from P1 until two red flags interrupted Q3 and left Weerts, along with most of the field, scrambling to set a representative lap.

The performance of his co-drivers – Marciello topped Q1 before Van der Linde all-but matched him – ensured WRT headed into the final 15-minute session 0.7s clear on average time. However, two stoppages in quick succession as well as improvements elsewhere meant the M4 began its final attempt down in sixth. Weerts’ first sector was considerably slower than the fastest, but he edged back into contention as the lap developed and even set qualifying’s quickest final sector to seal BMW’s second Suzuka 1000km pole in as many editions, albeit six years apart, by 0.5s.

GMR’s Mercedes-AMG starts alongside thanks primarily to Maxime Martin’s Q3 time. The Belgian, who shares with Mikael Grenier and Luca Stolz, jumped to the top moments before the session’s first red flag compromised the majority of this year’s expected victory contenders.

Indeed, third overall went to Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom’s Silver class R8 driven by Yu Kuai, Deng Yi and Cheng Congfu who began his only flying Q3 lap with just two seconds to spare. The car was an impressive second overall after Q2 and only slipped one position in the final shake up thanks to its trio’s sheer consistency.

Origine Motorsport’s Kremer tribute led the line for Porsche in fourth with Alessio Picariello, Laurin Heinrich and Bastian Buus combining to beat the NewMan design carried by Absolute’s Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Patrick Pilet by just 0.001s. The latter caused Q3’s third red flag by running into Degner 1’s gravel trap before immediately regrouping to head up row three.

The #7 911 GT3-R starts alongside Bronze class leaders Harmony Racing and its ‘Ramen Rocket’ Ferrari. Lorenzo Patrese was the only driver to trouble Marciello in Q1 before Dustin Blatner and Dennis Marschall maintained the Chinese squad’s impressive showing so far.

5ZIGEN’s Nissan was another non-Pro car to finish inside the top 10. The efforts of its all-Japanese crew – the best placed of this year’s home drivers – earned it a spot on row four with WRT’s championship leader Augusto Farfus as well as Dan Harper and Max Hesse.

Nicky Catsburg was the only driver to dip below two minutes flat, which helped JMR’s Pro Corvette to finish P9 overall. It was set to start alongside Craft-Bamboo’s factory Mercedes-AMG until a post-qualifying penalty for failing to slow sufficiently quickly for Q3’s red flags saw the entry lose its fastest time.

Eight more cars were guilty of the same offence: #00, #9, #10, #51 and #500 were caught out in Q2 when Kevin Tse’s accident approaching the Casio Triangle triggered a lengthy halt, and #30, #33, #77 and #360 in Q3. The latter’s first red flag was caused by Takuro Shinohara sliding his Porsche into the Turn 1 barriers before Pilet’s excursion triggered a second but much briefer pause.

The Team Handwork Challenge Nissan also has a five-place grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags in Q1.

Giancarlo Fisichella’s Q3 topping time helped LM Corsa’s Ferrari claim 12th overall and Pro-Am pole, while AMAC Motorsports won the battle for Am class honours. Kenny Habul (75 Express) starts as IGTC’s the highest placed Independent Cup entrant in 10th.

Sunday’s six-and-a-half-hour race begins at 12:50 JST (GMT +9). It’s available with English and Japanese commentary on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel, and across Japan on J Sports.

Results are HERE