Orange1 FFF will start today's Circuit Paul Ricard 1000km from the front of the grid after securing a second successive Endurance Cup pole position with its #63 Lamborghini.
The Chinese squad rose to the top in a typically competitive session, fending off the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari and a pair of Mercedes-AMG entries with an unbeatable average time of 1m53.937s.
Mirko Bortolotti laid the foundations by posting the fifth-best effort in an ultra-close Q1 session before Marco Mapelli moved the #63 Lamborghini firmly into contention by topping Q2.
The FFF crew was second on combined times heading into the deciding 15-minute session, just 0.018s shy of the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW, and it quickly became clear that the Lamborghini was heading for pole as Andrea Caldarelli reeled off a succession of fast times.
The Italian ultimately delivered the best lap across all three sessions – a 1m57.719s – to put a firm grasp on top spot. The result makes FFF the first team to secure back-to-back Endurance Cup poles since fellow Lamborghini squad Grasser Racing in 2019, a line-up that also featured Bortolotti.
The #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari took second on the grid. Antonio Fuoco and Callum Illot ran the opening sessions before Davide Rigon did a fine job in Q3 to move the car on to the front row. The Italian marque's 488 GT3 is a proven winner at Circuit Paul Ricard and should be a major factor this evening.
A pair of Mercedes-AMGs will start behind the two Italian machines. The #4 HRT entry edged the #88 AKKA ASP car by 0.001s on average times and both will feel very confident of contending for victory in the main event.
The #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW will start from fifth after slipping down the order in Q3, but also looks to be among the leading pack at Circuit Paul Ricard. A pair of Emil Frey Racing Lamborghinis were next, with the #163 Huracan edging the sister #114.
The #159 Garage 59 Aston Martin secured Silver Cup pole and ninth spot overall thanks to an outstanding performance from the crew of Valentin Hasse-Clot, Nicolai Kjergaard and Alex Macdowall. They will start seven places clear of the #87 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG, which is one spot clear of the #14 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini.
The #188 Aston Martin completed a perfect qualifying session for Garage 59 by topping Pro-Am. Chris Goodwin and then Alex West began the bid for pole before Jonny Adam completed the job. They will start 24th overall, eight spots clear of the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari, while the #52 AF Corse Ferrari took third in class. Full session times can be viewed here.
Today's six-hour race gets underway at 18:00. All of action will be free to view on the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS website and across the championship's social media channels.