The Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS (#88, Jürgen Häring / Taki Konstantinou / Tim Müller / Markus Winkelhock) has claimed its first pole position of the season at this year’s Hankook 12H BRNO. Markus Winkelhock lapped the 5.403km Automotodrom Brno in 2m 01.499s to secure the German team’s second front row start of this year’s 24H SERIES powered by Hankook.
This year’s Hankook 24H DUBAI winners did admit though that slippery conditions on-track could prove difficult for everyone during the 12-hour race.
“I’m happy for our car and our team to be on pole position, but it was not easy, I have to say,” Markus Winkelhock explained to radiolemans.com’s Joe Bradley. “I didn’t put all my sectors together, and there’s not a lot of grip, so the rear end is sliding a lot. If you have a one-hour stint, you really have to look after the tyres. It will be tough, but at the end of the day, it’s the same problem for everyone.”
In the closing moments, the OLIMP Racing Audi R8 LMS Evo 2019 (#8, Marcin Jedlinski / Mateusz Lisowski / Karol Basz) closed to within 0.160s of the polesitter to secure both a front row start and the fastest time in A6-Pro. The result also means an all-Audi front row for this year’s Hankook 12H BRNO.
OLIMP Racing’s final run consequently pushed the Bohemia Energy racing with Scuderia Praha Ferrari 488 GT3 (#11, Jiří Písařík / Josef Kral / Matteo Malucelli) down to 3rd on the grid. Already a two-time winner at Brno since the event’s first running in 2015, the Czech team also has two wins to its name in the 24H SERIES this season, and currently leads the GT European Championship over the Herberth Motorsport Porsche 991 GT3 R by just three points. The latter (#91, Daniel Allemann / Ralf Bohn / Robert Renauer) will start 6th.
The second Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS (#34, Johannes Dr. Kirchhoff / Max Edelhoff / Gustav Edelhoff) lines up 4th on the grid, securing a 1-2 starting formation for the German team in A6-Am in the process. The Wochenspiegel Team Monschau Ferrari 488 GT3 meanwhile (#22, Georg Weiss / Leonard Weiss / Hendrik Still / Jochen Krumbach / Oliver Kainz) rounds out the A6-Am top three and will start 5th overall.
The Porsche Lorient Racing Porsche 991-II Cup (#912, Philippe Polette / Frederic Lelievre / Pascal Gibon / Mathieu Pontais) will start on pole position in the 991 class just ahead of its sister entry (#911, Jean-François Demorge / Gilles Blasco / Lionel Amrouche / Frédéric Ancel). Only one point separates the pair in an inter-team battle in the 991 category European Championship standings. The DUWO Racing Porsche 991-II Cup (#909, Andrey Mukovoz / Sergey Peregudov / Stanislav Sidoruk) lines up 3rd.
Further back, RTR Projects locked out the front row in GT4, with the #224 KTM X-BOW GT4 (Tomas Enge / Sergej Pavlovec / Jan Krabec / Eike Angermayr) lapping just over one-tenth faster than the sister #226 entry (Tomas Miniberger / Tomas Kwolek / Karel Bednar / Milan Kodidek / Gabriela Jílkova). The pair will start ahead of the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 of reigning 24H GT SERIES champions, PROsport Performance (#1, Rodrigue Gillion / Nico Verdonck / Akhil Rabindra).
Red Camel-Jordans.nl takes second TCE pole on the bounce at the Hankook 12H BRNO
BRNO (24 May, 2019) – The Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA TCR (#101, Ivo Breukers / Luc Breukers / Rik Breukers) has claimed its second consecutive TCE pole position of the 2019 European Championship at the Hankook 12H BRNO. Rik Breukers lapped the 5.403km Automotodrom Brno in 2m 13.642s, barely five-tenths quicker than the Lestrup Racing Team Volkswagen Golf GTi (#110, Stefan Nilsson / Peter Fahlström / Marcus Fluch / Emil Sällberg) that will start alongside the CUPRA on the front row for the first time this season.
For the first time, the Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA boasts an all-Breukers family driver line-up, as Luc joins father Ivo and two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona class winner, Rik.
“I think it was a good lap, I really enjoyed it, and we’re very happy to be on pole,” Rik explained to radiolemans.com’s Nick Daman. “It’s hot, so I think everyone in TCR is struggling. The corners here are really long, and that puts a lot of pressure on the front tyres, but I think we’ve got a good setup. [Luc] is doing really well too. It’s a lot to learn in one weekend, but I think he’ll do a good job!”
The returning Team ABBA Racing BMW M3 V8 GTR (#334, Richard Neary / Sam Neary / Charles Lamb) will start 4th overall in the Czech Republic, and from SP3-class pole position with father-son duo Richard and Sam Neary behind the wheel. The former Hankook 24H SILVERSTONE winner had looked set to start one place higher, only for the MONLAU COMPETICION CUPRA TCR DSG (#107, Stuart Hall / Christopher Kemp / David Tinn / Tom Black) to post a faster time and take 3rd place on the TCE grid in the closing moments.
Already a two-time winner in the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook this year, the Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR (#112, Fabian Danz / Kari-Pekka Laaksonen / Antti Buri) will start 5th overall and as the 4th fastest TCR machine at Brno. The VW lines up one place ahead of the AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS (#188, Stephane Perrin / Vincent Radermecker / James Kaye), which lies just two points adrift of the top spot in the TCE European Championship standings.
Former 24H TCE SERIES champions Synchro Motorsport (#676, Alyn James / Daniel Wheeler) secured its second consecutive A3-class pole position at Brno, the Honda FK8-Civic Type-R completing the overall TCE top 10 in qualifying just ahead of the Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport BMW M240i Racing Cup (#869, Axel Burghardt / Jurgen Meyer / Nicole Holzer / Martin Kroll) and the Winkler Tuning BMW E46 123D (#666, Michael Winkler / Michael Rienhoff)
This year’s Hankook 12H BRNO will start this afternoon at 16.00 hrs local time, and concludes on Saturday at 19.00 hrs local time. After three hours of endurance racing action has been completed today, there will be a brief overnight intervention before the green flag is flown once again tomorrow morning at 10.00 hrs local time.
Source. Creventic/Photo. Petr Frýba
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