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GT World Cup: Mortara leads Audi 1-2 in qualifying

Edoardo Mortara grabbed pole position for the FIA GT World Cup event in Macau with a late effort in qualifying on Friday to dethrone Audi teammate Laurens Vanthoor from the top spot.

Edoardo Mortara, Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8 LMS

Edoardo Mortara, Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8 LMS

Alexander Trienitz

Edoardo Mortara, Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8 LMS
Laurens Vanthoor, Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8 LMS and Earl Bamber, Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R
Earl Bamber, Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R
Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy Mercedes-AMG GT3

Vanthoor had headed the timesheets after the first runs in the session, before the leading drivers had a frustrating time with two red flags costing them valuable track time.

The first red flag came out just before the halfway point of the 30-minute session when Pasin Lathouras lost control of his Ferrari 488 GT3 going through Mandarin Bend.

He spun around and his rear smashed into the barriers on the right-hand side of the circuit – with his damaged car left stranded on the track.

Following a restart, the session was red-flagged again with 10 minutes remaining after Richard Lyons clipped the kerb on the entry to Mandarin and his Porsche 911 was pitched in to a spin, smashing into the barriers backwards twice before coming to a halt.

The session resumed with all the top men gunning for the top spot – and it was with a late lap that Mortara delivered his pole time of 2m16.862s to edge out Vanthoor by 0.154 seconds.

Porsche’s Earl Bamber took third place in his Porsche but he is subject to an FIA investigation amid claims that he did not respect scrutineer advice.

Mercedes’ Maro Engel ended up fourth-quickest, despite some concerns early on after he brushed the barriers with his car and suffered minor damage, ahead of Nico Muller and Kevin Estre.

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