WRT BMW Secures Pole Position for 49th Suzuka 1000km
Suzuka, Japan — The #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO, driven by Raffaele Marciello, Kelvin van der Linde, and Charles Weerts, has secured pole position ahead of the 49th Suzuka 1000km race, boasting the fastest average lap time in a three-stage qualifying session held on Saturday evening.
This marks BMW’s second consecutive pole at the Suzuka Summer Endurance Race, following their previous success in the 2019 M6 GT3 campaign. The team has positioned itself well for the upcoming six-hour, 30-minute event, with two past WRT winners in its lineup.
Qualifying Highlights
In Q1, Marciello set the pace with a lap time of 2:00.251 after the track conditions improved post-rain. Lorenzo Patrese in the #21 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 followed closely with a time of 2:00.484.
Q2 saw a strong performance from Nicky Catsburg of Johor Motorsports, who logged a historic 1:59.936 — the fastest lap in IGTC history at Suzuka. Van der Linde clinched second for WRT with a time of 2:00.367. However, the session was disrupted by a crash involving Kevin Tse in the #28 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG GT3, which ultimately required repairs overnight.
Key Incidents
As day turned to night, Giancarlo Fisichella in the #60 LM corsa Ferrari initially topped the timesheets in Q3 but faced interruptions due to spins and crashes from other competitors, including Takuro Shinohara in the #18 Porsche. Ultimately, Weerts secured pole with an average lap time of 2:00.658 following a clean lap amidst traffic.
Mikaël Grenier’s #888 Team GMR Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO will start alongside WRT on the front row, achieving an average time of 2:01.176, anchored by a strong Q3 performance from Maxime Martin.
Class Standings and Final Grid
In the Silver class, the #14 Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom R8 LMS GT3, featuring drivers Yu Kuai, Deng Yi, and Cheng Congfu, qualified third overall with an average of 2:01.416. The #6 Origine Motorsport Porsche rounded out the top four with a time of 2:01.443, while the #7 Absolute Racing Porsche followed closely in fifth.
The grid concludes with Team 5Zigen’s Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 leading the Japanese team charge in seventh and the #2 JMR Corvette in tenth.
Race Details
The 49th Suzuka 1000km will commence tomorrow at 12:50 PM JST (local time), 3:50 AM GMT. Fans can catch live coverage on the official GT World YouTube channel.
Images © SRO / Gruppe C Photography
