The 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Kessel Racing was the fastest Ferrari in qualifying for the Gulf 12 Hours, with the quartet of Tabacchi-Cuhadaroglu-Zollo-Fumanelli taking second overall. Fumanelli's performance was particularly noteworthy, helping the GT3 Am class crew to achieve a great result. Teammates Cutrera-L.M.D.V.-Frezza-Cadei qualified on the second row, while the Ferrari of Monster VR46 crewed by Rossi-Marini-Salucci will start from ninth position. The starting grid, based on the average of the three times recorded by the drivers in qualifying at the Bahrain circuit, is only of limited significance for tomorrow's long marathon.
Qualifying 1. Alessio Salucci, Alessandro Cutrera and Francesco Maria Zollo battled for pole in the first session. At the wheel of the 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Monster VR46, Salucci closed fourth in the Pro-Am class with a time of 2:02.289, while Alessandro Cutrera was sixth with 2:03.603. The Kessel Racing car, driven by Francesco Maria Zollo, came sixth overall and first in the GT3 Am class. He set a lap time of 2:01.935.
Qualifying 2. The second fifteen-minute qualifying session saw Luca Marini, Nicola Cadei and Emanuele Maria Tabacchi take to the track. Marini, who will join MotoGP in 2021 after finishing second in the Moto2 season, stopped the clock at 2:01.098, sixth in the Pro-Am class. The experienced Niki Cadei was quicker than the 23-year-old, finishing fourth in his class with a time of 2:00.913. Emanuele Maria Tabacchi, the Ferrari Challenge Europe champion, came ninth overall and first in the Am series. His time was just four-tenths of a second off the fastest of the Prancing Horse drivers.
Qualifying 3. The third and final group of drivers vying for first place on the grid included the highly anticipated Valentino Rossi, David Fumanelli and Marco Frezza. The nine-time world champion set an excellent 2:01.370 although the limelight was stolen by David Fumanelli, who set the second-best overall time of 1:59.507 and by Marco Frezza, the fastest Pro-Am driver with 2:00.192.
So at the start. This last session's performances allows the 488 GT3 Evo 2020 no. 27 of Kessel Racing, entered in the GT3 Am class, to start from second overall, alongside Tabacchi-Cuhadaroglu-Zollo-Fumanelli in the McLaren of 2 Seas Motorsport that will set off from pole. Kessel's second Ferrari, the no. 8 of Cutrera-L.M.D.V.-Frezza-Cadei, took fourth place, first among the Pro-Am class cars, while the Monster VR46 car of Rossi-Marini-Salucci will start from the fourth row.