Ferrari bounce back in GT WC Europe qualifying at Monza

The first round of the GT World Challenge Europe - Endurance Cup got into full swing at the Autodromo di Monza with the morning qualifying held on a dry track. The session was prematurely cut short before the third driver from each crew was able to take to the track, due to electrical problems at the Lombardy circuit. The starting grid was therefore determined on the basis of the combined time of the two drivers: the top Ferrari was the number 71 Francorchamps Motors - AF Corse 296 GT3 which will start from twelfth in the Pro class, three places ahead of the number 51 296 GT3 from the same team.

Compared to Saturday’s free practice session, the Maranello cars were able to take advantage of more competitive conditions, after the updated Balance of Performance which had been established by the series organisers. The early interruption of the Sunday morning session, however, stopped the teams from refining their lap times any further in the final part of the session.

Pro Class. With a combined time of 1'46''941, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Davide Rigon secured a place on the sixth row for the number 71 296 GT3, shared with Antonio Fuoco who did not compete in the morning session, with a 0''667 gap from the number 98 BMW, which will start from pole position. Fifteenth was the other Francorchamps Motors - AF Corse-entered Ferrari with Alessio Rovera and Robert Shwartzman (1'47''041), who will crew the number 51 alongside Nicklas Nielsen.

Pro-Am and Bronze. Rounding out the quartet of Prancing Horse cars were ST Racing with Rinaldi’s 488 GT3 Evo 2020, fourth in Pro-Am with Samantha Tan, Isaac Tutumlu and Jon Miller, with the first two at the wheel in qualifying and the number 52 AF Corse-run 488 GT3 Evo 2020, which set the eighth fastest time with Louis and Jef Machiels, entered in the Bronze class with Andrea Bertolini.

The 3 Hours of Monza, the opening act of the GT3 class championship, will get underway at 3.15 p.m.(local time).