The six Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars that filled the top six positions during the 24 Hours of Spa 2016 superpole yesterday have been stripped off their times due to technical irregularities as stated by the stewards.
The Superpole session was dominated by Mercedes-AMG cars where Clemens Schmid in the #85 HTP Mercedes claimed pole with a time of 2m18.025s. He lead five other Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars to fill the top six in a rather commanding manner. Felix Rosenqvist in the #88 AMG-Team AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3 scored P2 while Dani Juncadella in the #56 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 completed the top three.
Following superpole, the race stewards announced that the official starting grid was subject to change. Several drivers were under investigation due to impeachment of regulations.
24 Hours of Spa 2016 Starting Grid – Top Ten
1. #28 Audi R8 LMS – Laurens Vanthoor, Rene Rast, Nico Müller
2. #16 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 – Mirko Bortolotti, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Rolf Ineichen
3. #8 Bentley Continental GT3 – Maxime Soulet, Andy Soucek, Wolfgang Reip
4. #50 Ferrari 488 GT3 – Pasin Lathouras, Michele Rugolo, Alessandro Pier Guidi
5. #2 Audi R8 LMS – Stuart Leonard, Robin Frijns, Michael Meadows
6. #6 Audi R8 LMS – Christopher Mies, Frank Stippler, Markus Winkelhock
7. #98 BMW F13 M6 GT3 – Nick Catsburg, Stef Dusseldorp, Dirk Werner
8. #24 Bentley Continental GT3 – Ian Loggie, Tom Onslow-Cole, Callum Macleod, Andy Meyrick
9. #666 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 – Jon Minshaw, Phil Keen, Oliver Gavin, Joe Osborne
10. #7 Bentley Continental GT3 – Guy Smith, Vincent Abril, Steven Kane
The first batch comprised of Rosenqvist in the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes, Maximilian Buhk in the #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes, Schmid in the #85 HTP Mercedes, Gotz in the #86 HTP Mercedes and Juncadella in the #56 Black Falcon Mercedes. They were all charged with violating the ignition timing which did not comply with the homologated figures. Their superpole times were cancelled.
The second batch comprised of Rosenqvist in the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes, Juncadella in the #56 Black Falcon Mercedes, Buhk in the #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes, Schmid in the #85 HTP Mercedes, Gotz in the #86 HTP Mercedes and Maro Engel in the #00 Black Falcon Mercedes. They were all handed a five-minute stop and go penalty for “presenting a car with a technical non-conformity of which the competitor should have been aware”.