> Unstoppable Ibrahim and Stolz beat Cheng and Gounon
> Results: Qualifying
Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim and Luca Stolz have sealed a double pole position for Triple Eight JMR and Mercedes-AMG at Fuji.
The duo topped their respective qualifying sessions on a sunny morning in the shadow of Mount Fuji where rounds five and six of Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS take place this weekend.
Bronze-graded Bakar was especially impressive in Q1 where he beat several Silver drivers to top spot. His first flyer was good enough for provisional pole before a second effort – 1m39.342s – sealed the deal.
That lap was necessary to beat Franky Cheng who moved FAW’s Audi up to second on his final run. 0.095s separated the front row starters.
Championship leader Lu Wei and his Origine team-mate Yuan Bo locked out row two for Porsche, while Bian Ye’s VSR Lamborghini and James’s Yu’s Audi completed a top six featuring a healthy mix of Pro-Am, Silver and Silver-Am entries.
Further back, AMAC’s Ben Porter earned Am class pole by qualifying 14th overall. That was six places clear of his nearest rival Hiroshi Hamaguchi.
Ibrahim controlled Q1 from the outset. But the second session was far more unpredictable thanks to the wealth of factory talent up front.
Ultimately, however, it was the familiar shape of JMR’s Mercedes-AMG that prevailed after Stolz bested works colleagues Jules Gounon (Climax Racing), Maro Engel and Jeylyn Ojega (both Craft-Bamboo Racing).
Edoardo Liberati and Jaxon Evans occupied top spot early on until Gounon and then Ojeda hit the front. Stolz responded on his first flyer by taking provisional pole, but that was immediately bettered by Gounon and then Ojeda who slotted into second.
Stolz wasn’t done though and set the session’s benchmark – 1m38.147s – on his final flyer. Gounon reduced his deficit to less than a tenth, but it wasn’t enough to deny Triple Eight JMR a qualifying sweep.
Marco Mapelli’s deleted lap time dropped VSR’s Lamborghini to seventh in the final reckoning, which contributed towards Mercedes-AMGs filling the top four places. Engel finished 0.3s shy of Stolz, while Ojeda was only 0.016s further back in the second of Craft-Bamboo’s entries.
Absolute’s Porsche driven by Alessio Picariello was best of the rest in fifth and shares row three with another 911: Phantom’s example featuring Evans. Leading Silver-Am entrant Yuki Nemoto starts alongside team-mate Mapelli, and Finn Gehrsitz (Absolute Corse) and Patrick Pilet (Origine) complete the top 10.
Race 1 goes green at 12:40 JST (GMT +9). Watch it live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel.