Porsche man Robert Renauer claims Zandvoort pole

• Heavy rain disrupts qualifying at Zandvoort
• Robert Renauer claims maiden ADAC GT Masters pole
• Q2 for Sunday’s race postponed to Saturday morning

In a far from routine qualifying at the Dutch North Sea resort of Zandvoort, 2013 championship runner-up Robert Renauer (29) claimed a maiden ADAC GT Masters pole in his TONINO Team Herberth Porsche 911. The session started on a dry track but was then interrupted by a downpour lasting 45 minutes. Renauer will be sharing the front row in Saturday’s race (live coverage on kabel eins commencing at 11.45am) with 25-year-old Frenchman Kévin Estre who drives another Porsche entered by GW IT Racing // Schütz Motorsport. The adverse weather conditions caused the second qualifying session to be postponed until 9am on Saturday morning.

Qualifying 1 for Race 1 on Saturday

Robert Renauer’s timing was perfect on his way to claiming his first pole position in the ADAC GT Masters. With dark storm clouds looming over the North Sea, the Porsche driver decided to go out on track right at the beginning of the session and attack immediately. The tactic paid off. The storm broke just at the moment when qualifying was stopped after seven minutes due to Max Sandritter (25) spinning off track in his PIXUM Team Schubert BMW Z4. Qualifying restarted after a 45-minute break, but by then, improvements in time were no longer possible on the now sodden track. The qualifying session was interrupted once again with five minutes to go before the end and was finally abandoned after David Jahn (23) in an RWT Racing Team Corvette stopped on the track with a technical defect.

“We took a gamble and got lucky,” said Renauer after qualifying. “I was out on track right at the start of the qualifying session, had a relatively clear run and was able to achieve a best time on my third lap. Once the rain set in, the competition were unable to beat my time.”

Porsche Carrera Cup champion Kévin Estre, also in a Porsche 911, will line up next to Renauer in grid position two. Andreas Wirth (29) in a Callaway Competition Corvette and South African winner of the season opener at Oschersleben Kelvin van der Linde (17) in a Prosperia C Abt Racing Audi R8 share the second row on Saturday. Florian Stoll (32) in a kfzteile24 APR Motorsport Audi R8 starts from fifth place alongside sixth-placed Max Sandritter in a BMW.

Qualifying for the second race postponed until Saturday

Heavy rain caused qualifying for Sunday’s race to be postponed until Saturday morning and will now take place between 9.00am and 9.25am.