SEPANG 12 HOURS
GIANMARIA BRUNI TAKES POLE POSITION FOR SEPANG 12 HOURS
They had already dominated the free practice sessions and now the #1 Clearwater Racing Ferrari will start the 2015 Sepang 12 Hours from pole position as well. In the top-15 shootout Gianmaria Bruni beat Laurens Vanthoor in the #17 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi by just over two tenths of a second. The second row of the grid will be shared by the #55 FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren and the #11 Singha Motorsport Team Ferrari. Mitchell Gilbert (#69 Team Fydis Aylezo Lamborghini) took pole in the GTC class, with Grant Johnson (#602 Jim Hunter Motorsport Subaru) edging to the front of the Touring Car division.
The Clearwater Racing Ferrari – winner of the last two editions of the Sepang 12 Hours – was always going to be one of the contenders for the overall win in the 2015 edition of the Asian endurance classic, but the performances of Weng Sun Mok, Matt Griffin, James Calado and Gianmaria Bruni during the different sessions of the event now surely promote them to the position of number one favourite.
The Italian ex-F1-driver had the honour of taking the wheel of the #1 Ferrari during the top-15 shootout and Bruni had little trouble to claim the top spot with his first quick lap. Both Nobuteru Taniguchi (#35 Team AAI – HubAuto Mercedes) and Laurens Vanthoor (#17 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi) came close though, but whereas the Belgian preferred to stay out and have another go (without success), the SLS-driver pitted with a tyre problem, which had to be solved by the team. Allowed under the rules, but they also stipulate that Taniguchi now had to forfeit his lap time and start all over again. He clocked another fast lap, but could not get higher than sixth. That promoted the #55 FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren of Alvaro Parente to third, a mere six hundredths of a second in front of the #11 Singha Motorsport Team Ferrari of Carlo Van Dam.
Three cars from the GTC-class managed to get into the top-15 shootout and of those three, the #69 Team Fydis Aylezo Lamborghini was clearly the quickest. Mitchell Gilbert beat the #26 B-Quick Racing Audi of Peter Kox by over two seconds, confirming the car’s performances from the free practice sessions. In the Touring Car division, the duel between Toyota and Subaru went in favour of the latter, when Grant Johnson edged in front with only seconds to spare in the main qualifying session. The gap between his #602 Jim Hunter Motorsport Subaru and the #86 Wing Hin Motorsport Toyota of Kenny Lee was only half a tenth of a second.
Teams and drivers can now start their final preparations for the Sepang 12 Hours, which will start at noon (UTC+8) on Saturday. Live streaming is available onsepang12hours.com or check your TV listings to watch one of the many networks that will broadcast the race live.