Ferrari | Donno powers to pole in Trofeo Pirelli qualifying

Thirty-one 488 Evos took to the track early Saturday morning at Imola for the Trofeo Pirelli qualifying session for this afternoon’s race 2, with the big names in the category setting the pace right from the start.

John Wartique (FML-D2P) was on top with a few minutes remaining, but Italian Eliseo Donno (CDP-Best Lap) was in terrific form on his home track and edged the Belgian out at the flag with a time of 1m42.4s to take the pole.

Scuderia Niki-Iron Lynx superstar Doriane Pin’s final attempt at going for pole was frustrated when she exceeded the track limits on her first attempt; she then got caught up by the heavy traffic, so she had to settle for third and a row 2 start.

Thomas Neubauer (Charles Pozzi-Courage) stayed in the pits until the final third of the session, only coming out after a red flag interruption with eight minutes to go. The Frenchman only did a couple of laps, immediately putting in a quick one of 1m43.1s and was happy with fourth place on the grid, while Germany’s Adrian Sutil (Gohm Motorsport) qualified in fifth, ahead of sixth-placed Luka Nurmi, the Formula Racing Finn simply unable to match the speed of the top 5.

#27 Marco Pulcini, Al Tayer Motors

Photo by: AG Photo / Manganaro

Amongst the AM class contenders Italian Marco Pulcini (Al Tayer Motors) took the top slot in eighth overall from Christian Brunsborg (Formula racing) from Denmark, who hauled himself up from a P8 to second with a few minutes remaining, ahead of Nigel Schoonderwoerd (Scuderia FMA-Iron Lynx). Yesterday’s race winner Nicolò Rosi (Kessel Racing) was unable to qualify any higher than P10 in this class and 20th overall.

In the Challenge Asia Pacific clash between the two Rosso Scuderia drivers, this time it was Yudai Uchida who got the better of Nobuhiro Imada, the pair finishing in P11 and P13 overall respectively.

Kanji Yagura (Cornes Osaka) was the top man in the Coppa Shell Asia with a time of 1m46.5s, going over half a second clear of second placed Eric Cheung (Blackbirds Concessionaires), while Baby Kei (Cornes Osaka) took the top slot in the AM grouping.

FERRARI CHALLENGE - Imola: Q2 Trofeo Pirelli EU-APAC