Spa-Francorchamps. The stage is set for a thrilling 24-hour
race in Spa-Francorchamps (BEL): The 2016 winners, Maxime Martin
(BEL), Philipp Eng (AUT) and Alexander Sims (GBR), secured
themselves a good starting position for the iconic endurance race
with the #99 BMW M6 GT3 of ROWE Racing. In the Super Pole
competition on Friday evening, Eng completed a lap of the
7.004-kilometre track in 2:18:127 minutes. This sees car number 99
start the Ardennes marathon from 11th place on the grid
on Saturday.
Pole position went to the #55 Ferrari.
The second-fastest BMW in the qualifying sessions, which were
abandoned and interrupted after accidents, was number 35. The BMW M6
GT3 of Walkenhorst Motorsport finished in 41st place. BMW
Motorsport Junior Nico Menzel (GER), Markus Palttala (FIN), Christian
Krognes (NOR) and Matias Henkola (FIN) will take the wheel in the race.
Tom Blomqvist (GBR), Bruno Spengler (CAN) and Nick Catsburg (NED) on
the other hand were unlucky. After technical problems with their #98
BMW M6 GT3, the trio had to make do with starting position 42 in the
fiercely contested qualifying sessions, in which the first 35 cars
were all within a second of each other. With the fourth BMW car in the
field, Henry Walkenhorst (GER), Stef van Campenhoudt (BEL), David
Schiwietz (GER) and Werner Hamprecht (GER) finished in 60th
place, equivalent to starting position six in the Am Cup.
The 69th edition of the endurance classic is scheduled to
get underway at 4:30 p.m. local time on Saturday. The winners will be
known 24 hours later.
Quotes from the Super Pole competition:
Philipp Eng (
#99 BMW M6 GT3, ROWE Racing): “It was so much fun
completing two whole laps on the track in Spa-Francorchamps without
traffic. It was sheer driving pleasure. I’m delighted that the team
entrusted me with the task of competing for the Super Pole; anyone in
our car could have contested the final qualifying session. The BMW M6
GT3 felt very good, so now it’s time to switch to race made and drive
without making any errors for 24 hours. If we end up in the same
position as last year, that would be fantastic.”
Maxime Martin (
#99 BMW M6 GT3, ROWE Racing): “It’s a good position
to start the race, quite near the front. Philipp did a great job,
which we knew he would. We know that we have a really good race car,
and it will be better over the course of the 24-hours than over one
lap. It doesn’t matter hugely where you start here, as long as you
have a clean race and the strategy is good; we saw that last year. We
have to do a great job tomorrow and the day after.”
Alexander Sims (
#99 BMW M6 GT3, ROWE Racing): “Philipp has done a
mega job, he has extracted a lot of performance from the car through
practice, the qualifying sessions and now in Super Pole. We are pretty
optimistic now going into the race. We will do our best, try to
execute the race as well as we did last year and then we should be in
a good position to fight at the front.”