Ferrari 488 GTE monopolises the front row at Spa
In GTE-Pro class Davide Rigon and Sam Bird on pole with car no. 71, Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni and James Calado second fastest with the no. 51
Photo by: Vision Sport Agency
Francorchamps – The Ferrari 488 GTE monopolised the GTE-Pro class front row in qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, which starts on Saturday at 2.30 pm. The crew of car no. 71 by AF Corse, Sam Bird and Davide Rigon, took a second consecutive pole, just over three tenths of a second ahead of teammates Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni and James Calado in the sister car no. 51. The 458 Italia of AF Corse team of François Perrodo, Rui Aguas and Emmanuel Collard, came second in the GTE-Am class.
GTE-Pro
In the GTE-Pro class James Calado started the session in no. 51 and Davide Rigon in no. 71. On his first lap Davide stopped the clock at 2:17:878, which he cut to 2:17:632 on the second. James completed three laps, constantly improving with, in sequence, 2:18:819, 2:18:247 and 2:18:087. Sam Bird in no. 71 only managed 2:18:137 on his first attempt but cut that to 2:17:813 on his second and finally 2:17:657. Car no. 71 thus recorded a combined time of 2:17:644, a time that not even Bruni in the 488 GTE no. 51 could beat over three laps he recorded 2:18:495, 2:18:119 and finally 2:17:835, making a total lap time of 2:17:971. This however secured second ahead of the Aston Martin of Stanaway-Rees-Adam.
GTE-Am
The only Ferrari in the GTE-Am class, the 458 Italia AF Corse of Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Rui Aguas, had a very positive session. Aguas and Perrodo took to the track with the Portuguese initially stopping the clock at 2:20:641, which he improved to 2:19:784 on his second lap. Meanwhile, Perrodo started with 2:22:547 before knocking a split second off that with 2:21:545 next time round. In the end the Ferrari no. 83 came second to the Aston Martin of Lamy-Lauda-Dalla Lana, but it will be a long race and the fight for first is wide open.
Ferrari
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments