Marciello takes commanding pole for second Zandvoort contest

Marciello takes commanding pole for second Zandvoort contest

Raffaele Marciello bounced back from a disappointing Saturday to put the #89 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG on pole for this afternoon's race at Zandvoort. 

The Swiss driver was in scintillating form, pumping in a 1m32.093s on a track made greasy by overnight rain. No one could get near this, giving Marciello pole and a crucial bonus point as he and Timur Boguslavskiy look to return to the top of the standings.

The best of the rest was Marciello's former teammate, Vince Abril, who put the #112 JP Motorsport McLaren on the front row of the grid with a 1m32.660s. This was a fine effort from the Monegasque, who is making his first Fanatec Sprint start of the season alongside Dennis Lind.

Dennis Marschall was third in the #66 Attempto Racing Audi. He was among the few drivers to improve after a late red flag, caused by a stranded Garage 59 McLaren. Marschall posted a 1m32.773s to pip yesterday's winner Dries Vanthoor (#32 Team WRT Audi) by just 0.003s. 

Pro-Am pole went to the impressive Dean MacDonald, who was fifth overall in the #188 Garage 59 McLaren. The Scottish racer's lap of 1m32.808s beat class rival Christian Klien (#111 JP Motorsport McLaren) by 0.051s, meaning the two will share the third row of the grid for this afternoon's contest. 

This was a rare off-day for the Silver Cup runners. Pole went to the #99 Attempto Racing Audi of Nicolas Schöll, who qualified 13th overall with a lap of 1m33.195s. He was two places ahead of the championship-leading #53 AF Corse Ferrari of Pierre-Alexandre Jean, with Eddie Cheever (#93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari) 17th overall and third in class. 

Today's race gets underway at 14:00. Live coverage will be shown across a variety of online platforms, including the GT World YouTube channel, with commentary available in English, French, Italian and German.