Luca Engstler secured his maiden Fanatec GT Europe pole in this morning's qualifying session at Hockenheim. The #6 Liqui-Moly Team Engstler by OneGroup Lamborghini was a factor throughout the 10-minute run and posted an unbeatable 1m37.415s at the very end, despite encountering traffic on his final lap.
The time was enough to move Engstler ahead of Ricardo Feller (#99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi) by just 0.033s. It marks the maiden series pole for driver and team, and the first for Lamborghini in Sprint since last year's visit to Hockenheim.
The #32 Team WRT BMW will start from third thanks to a strong effort from Dries Vanthoor. The Belgian squad will fancy its chances of victory if it can match yesterday's performance in the pits, with its stops more than two seconds faster than any other team.
Konsta Lappalainen kept the #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari towards the front of the order by qualifying fourth overall. Indeed, the Finn has a good shot at repeating the podium that he and Ben Green secured yesterday. The #71 AF Corse Ferrari was next in the hands of Tom Fleming, securing Silver Cup pole and a crucial championship point in the process.
Sixth went to the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin, closely followed by the #159 Garage 59 McLaren. The #26 Saintéloc Racing Audi qualified eighth overall in the hands of Ivan Klymenko and secured second among the Silver Cup runners. Rutronik Racing was ninth with its #96 Porsche, while Race 1 winner Maro Engel could only manage 10th aboard the #48 Winward Racing Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG.
Miguel Ramos delivered a superb lap to top the Bronze Cup order. The Portuguese qualified 14th overall with a 1m38.504s, barely a second shy of Engstler's overall pole time. The #188 Garage 59 McLaren driver will start eight spots ahead of his nearest class rival as he and Louis Prette bid for a first win of 2024.
The second race of the weekend will get underway at 14:15 CEST. As ever, full live coverage is available free of charge on the GT World YouTube channel.
> RESULT: Qualifying 2, Hockenheim 2024
