Well-placed rivals: Connor De Phillippi takes pole in Zandvoort

• De Phillippi & Mies will line up on pole in the Audi R8 LMS for first race at Zandvoort
• Mercedes-AMG pairing of Asch & Ludwig back on front row
• SPORT1 will broadcast the first race live today at 13:00

Zandvoort: By taking pole position for the first of two races to be staged during this penultimate ADAC GT Masters race weekend at Zandvoort, Connor De Phillippi (23) and his team-mate Christopher Mies (27, both Montaplast by Land-Motorsport) have secured the best possible position on the grid, keeping alive their chances as major contenders for the ADAC GT Masters title. The American was the man to beat, having posted a lap time of 1:37.647 minutes on the 4.3 kilometre old-school circuit by the Dutch North Sea coast. SPORT1 will broadcast the first race live on free-to-air TV at 13:00. The fixture can also be watched online as a live stream at www.sport1.de and www.adac.de/gt-masters.

"Our car was simply excellent. The team didn't put a foot wrong either. We now just have a little bit to do in the race ahead. I'll try to hand over the car to Chris (Mies) with decent tyres for the second stint of the race, so that he'll have a chance to fight for the win. We obviously intend to secure a good haul of points this weekend." After ten of 14 races, De Phillippi & Mies are 14 points down on the Corvette of championship leaders Jules Gounon (21, F) and Daniel Keilwitz (27, DEU, both Callaway Competition), who will be starting the race from twelfth place on the grid.

Sebastian Asch (30) and Luca Ludwig (27, DEU, both AMG Team Zakspeed) will also be lining up on the front row for this afternoon's race. Asch posted the second fastest time of 1:37.693 minutes. He went off into the gravel towards the end of the session but managed to find his way back onto the track. The two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs of Robert Renauer (31, DEU) & Martin Ragginger (28, A, both Precote Herberth Motorsport) and David Jahn (25, DEU) & Kévin Estre (27, F, both KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard) will share the second row.

Bentley have locked out the third row with Fabian Hamprecht (21, DEU) & Christer Jöns (29, DEU, both Bentley Team ABT) and Jordan Pepper (20, ZA) & Daniel Abt (23, DEU, both Bentley Team ABT).

Access to the standing areas on the dune embankments is free of charge with a special Dunes Ticket. This is available for download from www.cpz.nl. Grandstand tickets, including paddock access, start at 20 euros and can be purchased from the ticket office.