A historic day for GTC Endurance Challenge saw the championship’s maiden qualifying session take place earlier this morning. In Q1, it was the Alpine A110 GT4 of Edoardo Maccari who went fastest with a 1:40.462; the Tuder Motorsport driver was also the quickest in the AM class. The Italian will therefore start at the front of the GTC field in Stage-1, following the special format adopted by the championship in the opening round of the season. Behind him will be fellow AM rival Sebastian Gavazza (BMW M4 GT4 Evo), as the 19-year-old excelled in his first qualifying session of the year. Third belonged to Adriano Visdomini (Porsche Cayman 718 GT4), who is also the fastest among the Pro-Am entries; this puts three different car manufacturers in the top three in the first ever qualifying session in the history of the championship. After setting the quickest time in FP1 and FP2, Davide Nardilli (BMW M4 GT4 Evo) had to settle for fourth, as well as second in the Pro-Am class. Fifth is Alberto Antonucci (Mercedes AMG GT4), who also set the third fastest time in the AM category.
After a short intermission, the show resumed for Q2, and this time, Giacomo Maman (BMW M4 GT4 Evo) put Casals Motorsport back on top spot. Racing in the Pro-Am class, the young Italian set a blistering 1:39.517 – the fastest lap time of the entire weekend so far – to set the tone in the second session. As a result, he will start Stage-2 as the best-placed GT4 entry, following this weekend’s special format. Behind him, Koray Kamiloglu (Porsche Cayman 718 GT4) was in second across the Pro-Am entries, while Emilio Damante (Alpine A110 GT4) had to settle for third, though he was still the fastest AM driver. A strong lap put Luca Esposito (BMW M4 GT4 Evo) in fourth and second across the AM entries, while Pedro Ebrahim (Aston Martin Vantage GT4) was fifth, and third in the Pro-Am standings.
Today’s on-track action is not over yet, as Stage-1 is set to begin later that day at 16:00 local time, whereas the second stage takes place on Sunday 19 April, when the green flag will be waived at 14:15 local time. Both stages will be broadcast on GO-TV’s official YouTube channel, which boasts more than 80.000 subscribers, as well as on PitwallTV and Acelera GP’s YouTube channels.
