2 Seas capture Gulf 12 Hours pole
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahraini-British motor racing team 2 Seas Motorsport secured pole position yesterday for today’s Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The trio of Bahrain’s His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Martin Kodric from Croatia and Ben Barnicoat from Great Britain drove their #1 Mercedes AMG-GT3 contender to secure the leading grid spot after clocking the best average time in qualifying.
Today’s endurance challenge is scheduled to be held in two six-hour parts. The first is scheduled to get underway at 8.40am, Bahrain time, and then after a nearly two-hour break, the second flags off at 4.33pm. HH Shaikh Isa-Kodric-Barnicoat are the reigning champions in the event, and they secured pole for the second successive year.
They enjoyed an average qualifying time of one minute 52.047 seconds yesterday competing in the race’s GT3 Pro class. Their teammates in 2 Seas’ #66 car – shared between the British trio of Ian Loggie, Morgan Tillbrook and Casper Stevenson – claimed fourth on the grid amongst the GT3 Pro-Am entries.
They had an average time of 1:53.053. “The car has been fast all week,” said Barnicoat after qualifying. “I think I left a bit on the table as it’s a new car for me. Martin has been super-strong as has HH Shaikh Isa.
We were the strongest car and that’s why we’re on pole position.” Each driver had a 15-minute session in their team’s car during qualifying, and the average time per challenger determined their grid place.
In the first qualifying, Kodric was in the #1 car for 2 Seas and he clocked a best lap of 1:51.813, enjoying a 2.630s gap ahead of his closest challenger from German team SPS Automotive Performance, also competing in a Mercedes AMG-GT3
Loggie was in the #66 car and he set a time of 1:53.362 for second place in the GT3 Pro-Am category, 1.383s Italian behind leaders AF Corse in a Ferrari 488 GT. In qualifying two, HH Shaikh Isa was behind the wheel of the #1 challenger.
HH Shaikh Isa qualified third in the Pro class with a best lap of 1:52.774, while Stevenson in the other car topped the Pro-Am times with a lap of 1:51.344. The third qualifying session then saw Barnicoat classify second with a fastest lap of 1:51.556, a mere 0.013s off the pace of leaders SPS Automotive Performance.
Tillbrook took sixth place amongst the Pro-Am competitors with a best lap of 1:54.454. Earlier in the day yesterday, 2 Seas’ #1 crew topped all three Pro class timesheets in the free practice sessions.
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