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GT Racing
GT: AF Waltrip Ferrari On Gulf 12 Hours Pole
Ryan Dalziel, Alex Popow, Pierre Kaffer lead Ferrari 1-2-3-4-5 sweep in qualifying at Yas Marina Circuit...
Pierre Kaffer, Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel celebrate pole for the Gulf 12 Hours. (Photo: John Dagys)
It was a Ferrari kind of day in Abu Dhabi, as Prancing Horses swept the top five qualifying positions for Friday's second running of the Gulf 12 Hours at Abu Dhabi.
The No. 11 AF Waltrip entry of Ryan Dalziel, Alex Popow and Pierre Kaffer teamed for the pole position, with each of the drivers' best laps from individual 20-minute qualifying sessions counting towards an average best time.
Kaffer's 2:11.144 lap, set in the third and final GT3 qualifying session of the afternoon at the Yas Marina Circuit, stood as the quickest among the trio.
"My lap was a good lap but I overdrove the car in my fastest lap," Kaffer admitted. "It was difficult to bring everything together. But in the end, I'm really proud that we made it to the pole position."
The combined time was 0.195 seconds faster than the No. 3 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Philipp Peter, Michael Broniszewski and Daniel Zampieri, which wound up second, thanks in part to the Austrian's 2:11.286 lap time set in the second session.
For Popow, fresh off victory in last weekend's Six Hours of Bogota with Dalziel, the pole was even more rewarding, having only turned his first laps in the GT3-spec car this morning after arriving a day late due to travel delays.
"I lost yesterday's track time and just got in the car [this morning]," Popow explained. "It was good that I already knew the track from January. That helped me a lot. In the beginning, I was not that fast, but I managed to get better and better every session."
Dalziel, Popow and Enzo Potolicchio, who qualified fourth in his No. 2 AF Corse 458 on Thursday, will be aiming to improve on their third place finish in January's inaugural running, a thrilling race that saw the podium finishers separated by less than 10 seconds at the checkered flag.
Ferrari factory drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander, along with Venezuelan Gaetano Ardagna will start third in the No. 1 AF Corse entry, ahead of teammates Potolicchio, Nic Minassian and Stephane Sarrazin, who set the No. 2 car's best time of 2:11.796 in the first session.
Completing the top-five, and Ferrari sweep, was the No. 10 AF Waltrip machine of Maurizio Mediani, Michele Rugolo and Steve Wyatt.
Despite having the fastest overall lap in qualifying, the No. 6 Autorlando Porsche 997 GT3 R will roll off sixth. Jeroen Bleekemolen reeled off a blazing 2:10.811 lap time to go quickest in the third session. However, his co-drivers times, including a 2:14.322 lap by Emilio di Guida, did not match up.
Another quick car to also get caught out was the No. 47 ASM Team McLaren MP4-12C, which saw factory drivers Alvaro Parente and Rob Bell post the first and third quickest times in their respective sessions. However, third driver Karim Ojjeh was only able to muster a 2:18.488 during his stint, which dropped the Portuguese entry to 8th on the starting grid.
The SC category (FIA CN2 cars) saw the No. 45 Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 grab the class pole, while quickest of the GT4-spec machinery was the Ebimotors Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car.
All 21 cars set time in qualifying.
Tomorrow's around-the-clock enduro is uniquely split into two six-hour races. Per the regulations, the total number of laps completed from the first sprint will be added to the second race, thus equalizing any time differences.
Adding further complexity to the strategy is a maximum drive time of 75 minutes, which could prove pivotal, according to pole-sitter Dalziel.
"Physically, it's pretty tough around here," he said. "There's not many cars, so there won't be many yellows. So I think single-stinting is the smart way to be fresh at the end."
The first race segment takes the green Friday at 9:30 a.m. local (12:30 a.m. ET) while following a 90-minute intermission, Race 2 gets underway at 5 p.m local (8 a.m. ET).
RESULTS: Qualifying (Combined)
PHOTOS: Gulf 12 Hours
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
The No. 11 AF Waltrip entry of Ryan Dalziel, Alex Popow and Pierre Kaffer teamed for the pole position, with each of the drivers' best laps from individual 20-minute qualifying sessions counting towards an average best time.
Kaffer's 2:11.144 lap, set in the third and final GT3 qualifying session of the afternoon at the Yas Marina Circuit, stood as the quickest among the trio.
"My lap was a good lap but I overdrove the car in my fastest lap," Kaffer admitted. "It was difficult to bring everything together. But in the end, I'm really proud that we made it to the pole position."
The combined time was 0.195 seconds faster than the No. 3 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Philipp Peter, Michael Broniszewski and Daniel Zampieri, which wound up second, thanks in part to the Austrian's 2:11.286 lap time set in the second session.
For Popow, fresh off victory in last weekend's Six Hours of Bogota with Dalziel, the pole was even more rewarding, having only turned his first laps in the GT3-spec car this morning after arriving a day late due to travel delays.
"I lost yesterday's track time and just got in the car [this morning]," Popow explained. "It was good that I already knew the track from January. That helped me a lot. In the beginning, I was not that fast, but I managed to get better and better every session."
Dalziel, Popow and Enzo Potolicchio, who qualified fourth in his No. 2 AF Corse 458 on Thursday, will be aiming to improve on their third place finish in January's inaugural running, a thrilling race that saw the podium finishers separated by less than 10 seconds at the checkered flag.
Ferrari factory drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander, along with Venezuelan Gaetano Ardagna will start third in the No. 1 AF Corse entry, ahead of teammates Potolicchio, Nic Minassian and Stephane Sarrazin, who set the No. 2 car's best time of 2:11.796 in the first session.
Completing the top-five, and Ferrari sweep, was the No. 10 AF Waltrip machine of Maurizio Mediani, Michele Rugolo and Steve Wyatt.
Despite having the fastest overall lap in qualifying, the No. 6 Autorlando Porsche 997 GT3 R will roll off sixth. Jeroen Bleekemolen reeled off a blazing 2:10.811 lap time to go quickest in the third session. However, his co-drivers times, including a 2:14.322 lap by Emilio di Guida, did not match up.
Another quick car to also get caught out was the No. 47 ASM Team McLaren MP4-12C, which saw factory drivers Alvaro Parente and Rob Bell post the first and third quickest times in their respective sessions. However, third driver Karim Ojjeh was only able to muster a 2:18.488 during his stint, which dropped the Portuguese entry to 8th on the starting grid.
The SC category (FIA CN2 cars) saw the No. 45 Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 grab the class pole, while quickest of the GT4-spec machinery was the Ebimotors Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car.
All 21 cars set time in qualifying.
Tomorrow's around-the-clock enduro is uniquely split into two six-hour races. Per the regulations, the total number of laps completed from the first sprint will be added to the second race, thus equalizing any time differences.
Adding further complexity to the strategy is a maximum drive time of 75 minutes, which could prove pivotal, according to pole-sitter Dalziel.
"Physically, it's pretty tough around here," he said. "There's not many cars, so there won't be many yellows. So I think single-stinting is the smart way to be fresh at the end."
The first race segment takes the green Friday at 9:30 a.m. local (12:30 a.m. ET) while following a 90-minute intermission, Race 2 gets underway at 5 p.m local (8 a.m. ET).
RESULTS: Qualifying (Combined)
PHOTOS: Gulf 12 Hours
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
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