Lionspeed GP made the perfect start to the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup season at Brands Hatch as Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus claimed both ROWE Pole Position Awards in a dominant qualifying display.
The German squad set the benchmark from the opening session and never looked under serious threat. With both drivers delivering standout laps in the #80 Porsche 911 GT3 R, Lionspeed GP established itself as the clear favourite for Sunday’s races.
Ferrari, BMW and Mercedes-AMG also placed cars near the front, but none could stop Porsche from completing a clean sweep.
Feller dominates Qualifying 1 for Race 1 pole at GTWC Europe Sprint Cup opener at Brands Hatch
Ricardo Feller took charge of the opening qualifying session with a superb lap of 1m22.722s. The Swiss driver immediately put the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche at the top and built a gap that proved too large for the rest of the field to close.
At one stage, Feller held an advantage of half a second. Arthur Leclerc reduced the deficit late in the session, but the #50 AF Corse Ferrari driver still finished 0.249s adrift in second place.
It marked Leclerc’s best GTWC Europe qualifying result since joining the series last year and secured him a front-row start for Race 1 at the first Sprint Cup weekend at Brands Hatch.
Matisse Lismont also delivered a career-best performance. The Belgian qualified third overall in the #30 Team WRT BMW and claimed Silver Cup pole. He finished 0.210s behind Leclerc and just 0.042s ahead of Dani Juncadella in the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry.
That result placed Lismont and Juncadella on the second row, while the third row went to the #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari and the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche.
Dylan Pereira secured Gold Cup pole for Tresor Attempto Racing. The Audi driver qualified seventh overall in the #99 car after a strong run.
Further back, several leading names struggled. The #32 Team WRT BMW could only manage 12th, while the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG ended the session 15th. Nicki Thiim faced an even tougher result, qualifying 31st in the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin.
Buus completes Lionspeed’s clean sweep
After Feller’s commanding Q1 performance, Bastian Buus entered the second session as the clear favourite. The Danish driver handled the pressure and delivered the fastest lap of the weekend.
Buus posted a 1m22.470s to secure pole for Race 2 and complete a perfect qualifying sweep for Lionspeed GP. It was the first time one car had taken both poles at a Sprint Cup weekend since Misano in 2022.
Chris Lulham produced a strong home performance to qualify second in the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing car. The Briton finished just 0.102s away from pole and set the fastest time of anyone in the first sector.
Max Hesse impressed on his Brands Hatch debut by taking third in the #46 BMW. His result confirmed that he and Valentino Rossi could be serious contenders for at least a podium finish on Sunday.
Maro Engel followed in fourth for Winward Racing, giving Mercedes-AMG two cars inside the top four.
Class poles decided as contenders line up for Sunday
Gilles Magnus completed the top five in Q2 and claimed Gold Cup pole in the #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche. His performance added another strong result for Porsche at the front of the field.
In Silver Cup, Ignacio Montenegro continued Team WRT’s impressive qualifying form. He placed the #30 BMW ninth overall and finished five places ahead of his nearest class rival.
With Lionspeed GP on pole for both races, the German team will start Sunday in control. However, Ferrari, BMW and Mercedes-AMG all showed enough pace to stay in the fight, setting up an intriguing opening Sprint Cup race day at Brands Hatch.
Results Qualifying 1 and Qualifying 2
