Ben Green (#14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari) and Lucas Auer (#48 Winward Racing Team MANN-FILTER Mercedes-AMG) will start tomorrow's Sprint Cup races at Brands Hatch from pole position after leading their respective qualifying sessions at the British circuit.
Green's time of 1m22.768s secured top spot for the opening contest by a margin of just 0.016s, beating reigning Sprint Cup champion Mattia Drudi (#7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin) in a close-fought session. Dries Vanthoor qualified third in the #32 Team WRT BMW and will share the second row with Tom Gamble (#159 Garage 59 McLaren).
In the Gold Cup, Lucas Légeret edged Charlie Eastwood to earn class pole. The Swiss posted a 1m23.213s in his CSA Racing Audi to beat the Racing Team Turkey Ferrari by just 0.019s. This duo will start eighth and ninth respectively on the overall grid.
Silver Cup pole went to the #30 Team WRT BMW driven by Calan Williams, who did a fine job to qualify 11th overall and ahead of several Pro cars. Aurélien Panis (#10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG) was the next best Silver runner in P14 overall.
Lucas Auer scored overall pole for tomorrow's second race, posting the quickest time of the weekend in the process. The #48 Mercedes-AMG delivered a 1m22.393s at the end of the session, emerging fastest in a late dash following a brief red flag stoppage.
He beat fellow AMG ace Jules Gounon (#9 Boutsen VDS) by 0.143s, while Thierry Vermeulen completed a good day for Emil Frey Racing by placing third. Likewise, Garage 59 will be satisfied with its day after Benji Goethe matched Tom Gamble's fourth-place starting spot.
Eliseo Donno (#71 AF Corse Ferrari) was one of the stars of the session, qualifying sixth overall and well clear of his Silver Cup rivals. Indeed, the young Italian has seven cars between himself and his closest class contender.
Gold Cup pole went to the #25 Saintéloc Racing Audi driven by Gilles Magnus. The Belgian qualified eighth overall, five positions ahead of fellow Audi driver Luca Engstler (#6 Liqui-Moly Team Engstler by OneGroup).
The only stoppage during the two sessions came in Q2 when Mattise Lismont backed the #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin into the barriers. The Belgian was unhurt, but it capped a trying day for the #21 crew, which will start both of tomorrow's races from the final position on the grid.
Also of note, Marcus Paverud ran both sessions in the #18 Eurodent GSM Lamborghini after James Kell withdrew from Qualifying. The team's plans for Sunday have not yet been confirmed.
Fanatec GT Europe begins its Sprint Cup season tomorrow with 60-minute races at 11:00 and 16:00 BST. Both will be streamed live and in full on the GTWorld YouTube channel.