Hofor Racing Takes Pole in Truncated 12H Spa Qualifying

Photo: Racingpixels

Hofor Racing led a Mercedes-AMG 1-2 to capture pole position for the Michelin 12H Spa-Francorchamps in a shortened qualifying session, while the Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo qualified fourth overall for its competition debut.

Alexander Prinz and Torsten Kratz set a combined time of 2:17.826 aboard the No. 11 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which they’ll share in the race with Michael Kroll and Chantal Prinz.

That allowed the Swiss squad to remain 0.805 seconds clear of the No. 93 RedAnt Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, while E2P Racing captured third with its No. 90 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

It was the maiden series pole position for Hofor, which has been a mainstay of 24H Series competition for several years.

Qualifying for the second European round of the calendar was shortened as a result of barrier repairs after a crash for the No. 69 Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II at Raidillon.

Due to the resulting delays, event organizer Creventic made the call to cancel the scheduled third session, with the grid instead determined by the average combined times from the first and second session.

Of note, the debuting Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, entered into the SP4 class for developmental vehicles, qualified fourth overall with a time of 2:19.251, 1.425 seconds off pole position.

Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing, which has entered a non-Evo, Type-992 911 GT3 R for Jonathan Hui, Chris Froggatt and Loek Hartog, rounded out the overall top five ahead of a pair of Ferrari 296 GT3s for Scuderia Praha and Kessel Racing.

GT4 pole position was captured by the No. 419 Hamofa Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO, with Rob Verhoeven and Kris Verhoeven combining to set a best effort of 2:32.547.

The No. 452 SRS Team Sorg Rennsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS took second, while the No. 421 Venture Mercedes-AMG GT4 completed the top three in class.

The opening, five-hour segment of the Michelin 12H Spa-Francorchamps kicks off at 12:50 p.m. CEST (6:50 a.m. EST), with live coverage on the Creventic Motorsports TV YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Qualifying