Marciello leads BMW’s 1-2 in Macau GP’s FIA GT World Cup qualifying

Reigning two-time FIA GT World Cup winner Raffaele Marciello claimed his third FIA GT World Cup pole position in as many editions, leading BMW stablemate Dries Vanthoor in front-row lockout for the Bavarian manufacturer

The Italian racer who switched to BMW for 2024, having spent the bulk of his career with Mercedes-AMG, is set to start Saturday’s 12-lap qualification race from pole position, with his qualifying triumphed being the first time his named appeared atop of the timing screens this weekend.

The younger of the two Vanthoor brothers came a close second aboard his M4 GT3, being only 0.053s down on the sister car with Marciello behind the wheel.

Third was, the best of the Mercedes-AMGs drivers, Maro Engel who was the early pace-setter in what was the first dry session of the event that saw red flags on two occasions. The German had to abort his pole attempt following a red flag in the closing stages of the session following a massive crash of Luca Engstler at exit of the Mandarin corner.

The driver of the #8 Liqui Moly Team Engstler Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 remained conscious after the crash but was taken to a local hospital for precautionary checks.

FIA GT World Cup rookie Antonio Fuoco, making his Macau GP return having competed here in Formula 3 a decade ago, was the highest-ranked Ferrari driver aboard his AF Corse-operated 296 GT3.

The third row of the grid went to further two BMW drivers, August Farus who will have Sheldon van der Linder for company on the starting grid, with both being atop of the times at different stages of the session in which BMW looked like the car to have.

Seventh went to newly crowned FIA Hypercar World Endurance Drivers’ Champion Laurens Vanthoor who was the fastest driver from the six-car-strong Porsche effort.

more to follow…