Spa 24h: Maiden pole for Lamborghini in record lap

Text: Rick Kiewiet

Images: SRO

Andrea Caldarelli sped to pole in the fastest ever qualifying lap around the 7 km track of Spa-Francorchamps. In his Orange1 K-Pax Lamborghini Huracan he clocked a 2:16:221. His lap marked the first ever pole position for Lamborghini and an American team at the Belgian endurance classic.

First up during the Super Pole session was Fabian Schiller in the #777 Mercedes, one of the Silver Cup runners, who immediately posted an impressive lap at 2:16:774. Good enough for the pole in the Silver cup and a 9th position overall at the end.

The first serious time was posted by Austrian Klaus Bachler in the #54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche. His 2:16:446 was 0.174s under Mirko Bortolotti's time in the #63 Emil Frey Lamborghini. Two cars later it was Raffaele Marciello's turn in the #88 Mercedes, the pole sitter of the last two editions. He went another 0.071s under Bachler's time, which was already a new record time at that moment.

Then, with only three cars to go in Super Pole, it was Caldarelli's turn. In his first lap he was still somewhat off the pace, but his second lap, and especially his third sector, was outstanding. With a gap of 0.154s he snatched the pole away under Marciello's nose.

But after Caldarelli, both Iron Lynx Ferrari's still had their turn. As they were 1-2 in Thursday evenings' qualifying session, Calderelli's pole was by no means certain. But at the "moment suprème", both Antonio Fuoco in the #71 and Nicklas Nielsen in the #51 couldn't come near the Lamborghini's time. Their starting position could even be called somewhat disappointing, with p10 and p12 respectively. Do note however that Nielsen in the #51 won the race from grid position 13 last year...

The trio that won the race in 2020, Richard Lietz, Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre will start the race from p6 in their #221 GPX Martini Porsche.

Championship leaders Dries Vanthoor, Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde in the #32 Audi will start the race as far back as 15th, just in front of the first BMW M4 of Catsburg, Farfus and Yelloly. Right behind them is the "Dane Train", the #95 Beechdean Aston Martin of Thiim and Sorensen, supplemented with Maxime Martin.

Race start is tomorrow 16.45 local time (15.45 BST).