Mercedes will start from pole position in the 1000km Blancpain GT enduro at Circuit Paul Ricard following a tight-knit qualifying session topped Yelmer Buurman.
Driving the No. 4 Black Falcon-entered Mercedes AMG-GT3, Buurman (centre of photo) dialed in a time of 1:56.442s at the end of the third and final session to seal a second successive pole for the German manufacturer.
The effort was good enough to pip Davide Rigon's SMP Racing Ferrari 488 by 0.031 seconds, although it just missed out on the pole time set last year.
Buurman will share the Black Falcon machine with Luca Stolz and Adam Christodoulou, who are currently 16th in the BGTS Endurance Cup standings following a no-score weekend at the previous round.
Row two of the 58-strong grid will be shared by the #50 AF Corse Ferrari qualified by Alessandro Pier Guidi (+0.157) and the Emil Frey Racing Jaguar of Albert Costa (+0.217).
The Jaguar was the surprise package of the session having failed to qualify in the top-15 so far this season, with the Emil Frey team's siste car due to start 11th.
The championship-leading Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan driven by Mirko Bortolotti/Andrea Caldarelli/Christian Engelhart will start 20th.
Its main title rival – the No. 84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes of Jimmy Eriksson/Maximilian Buhk/Franck Perera – qualified fifth.
Pro-Am pole (and 14th overall) went to the Kessel Racing Ferrari squad, whilst the Am category was paced by the Silverstone-winning Rinaldi Racing Ferrari.
Round three of the BGTS Endurance Cup is set to get underway at 18:00 local time (CEST) and is set to last around six hours.
Discussion about this post