Emil Frey's Lappalainen stuns field to secure pole for GTWC EU Zandvoort Race two
Qualifying two proved a fantastic one for Emil Frey Racing, with Konsta Lappalainen getting his first overall GT World Challenge Europe (GTWC EU) pole position and the sister No.69 car of Ben Green in third, in what was a great session for Ferrari cars as a whole.
As it happened With turns to hit the track inverted for this second qualifying session, as Bronze and Silver entries hit the track first this time, it was again a slow session to get going, with the first flying lap completed with less than five minutes to go for the first group, that being a 1:38.229 by Carrie Schreiner in the No.88 Tresor Attempto Audi.
However this was just a banker first lap time, times continued to tumble towards the 1:34 mark, with Oliver Söderström in the No.21 Comtoyou Aston Martin set what was Silver pole with a 1:34.330, around a tenth faster than the next best one.
That was the Brozne pole sitter, Charles Dawson in the No.222 2seas Motorsport Mercedes who set a 1:34.452, with the Group A top five rounded out by Mikey Porter in the No.5 Optimum McLaren, Jef Machiels in the No.52 AF Corse Ferrari and Peter Dempsey, fresh off a class win at race one, in the No.93 Ziggo Tempesta Porsche.
This was a great result for the latter, as with yesterday's class win he and teammate Eddie Cheever have closed the Bronze Cup gap to leaders Marvin Dienst and Rinat Salikhov, to only two and a half points, with Salikhov qualifying well down on his rival in the No.87 Winward Mercedes.
Group B action, started with Patric Niederhauser having the track all to himself in the No.96 Rutronik Lamborghini, choosing the -perhaps- unorthodox strategy of going out on track straight away, with the next cars not leaving the pits until around five minutes remained.
Niederhauser quickly surpassed Söderström's benchmark, with a 1:33.615, which was come the end, good enough for seventh overall.
Konsta Lappalainen surprised many in his No.14 Emil Frey Ferrari, with an absolutely amazing lap of 1:33.192, which was not only the overall pole position time, but also two tenths faster than the next best one, that being a 1:33.399 of Gold pole position setter and overall race one winner, Louis Prette, in his No.58 Garage 59 McLaren.
This was a surprise to say the least, as after scoring points in both of the Sprint season opening Brands Hatch races, the pair of Lappalainen and Matteo Cairoli have not scored a single point in Misano, Magny-Cours or Zandvoort's race one, with a best result of only 16th.
Ferraris in general had a great qualifying two, with 296 GT3 EVOs also in third, fifth and ninth overall. Qualifying two also sets up a very interesting grid in regards to the championship battle, with Dani Juncadella, who now leads after Saturday's fifth place, seeing teammate Chris Lulham qualifying in 15th, while Kelvin van der Linde, now in second place with teammate Charles Weerts, down in 22nd, which will turn into 25th, courtesy of a grid drop penalty the South African has to serve from a Magny-Cours incident.
The No.80 Lionspeed GP Porsche pair of Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller in overall third place in the standings will start from sixth, with the No.50 AF Corse Ferrari of Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer starting from ninth, in what surely will provide us with a stunning race two, as things get tight and feisty around Zandvoort.
Qualifying Results - Overall
1st No.14 Emil Frey Racing, Ferrari 2nd No.58 Garage 59, McLaren (Gold Pole)
3rd No.69 Emil Frey Racing, Ferrari
4th No.46 Team WRT, BMW
5th No.51 AF Corse, Ferrari
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