Henri Dubois · Endurance Correspondent
Tom Fleming was the only driver under 1:41 in Hyperpole and put the Garage 59 McLaren on LMGT3 pole. The championship runner-up, the No. 27, starts from the back of the class.
For the GT class, Saturday at the 6 Hours of Barcelona began with a last-minute arrival. Tom Fleming had missed both of Friday's practice sessions because he was busy at the same time with the GT World Challenge Europe finale in Portimão. At midday, five laps in Hyperpole were all he needed to set the fastest LMGT3 time of the weekend: 1:40.933 in the No. 10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S. For Fleming and the team, it is their second pole of the season after Imola.
Qualifying: Dempsey sets the pace, both Aston Martins miss out
In qualifying, which decides the ten places in Hyperpole, Peter Dempsey put the Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette on top with a 1:42.082, more than half a second clear of the No. 88 Ford Mustang of Proton Competition. Behind them came the No. 21 Ferrari 296 of Vista AF Corse and the second Corvette, the No. 33 of TF Sport. From fourth to tenth, seven cars were covered by 0.186 seconds, and even the eventual polesitter only just made it through in ninth. The last ticket to Hyperpole went to Proton's second Mustang, the No. 77.
It was a tough midday for Heart of Racing Team. Neither Aston Martin Vantage made it into the top ten: the No. 23 was 14th, and the No. 27, with Ian James at the wheel, was last, 7.039 seconds off the pace. Of all cars, this is the one sitting second in the LMGT3 standings, and according to Dailysportscar it carries a correspondingly heavy load of success ballast. Garage 59's second McLaren, the No. 58, was also knocked out, with Alexander West 16th.
Hyperpole: Fleming ahead of Pera and Mann
In Hyperpole, lap times dropped by more than a second. Fleming was the only driver under 1:41 and bumped Riccardo Pera, in the No. 92 Porsche 911 of The Bend Manthey, who completes the class front row 0.122 seconds back. Simon Mann put the No. 21 Ferrari third, and Jonny Edgar the No. 33 Corvette fourth. Next up are Rui Andrade in the No. 61 Mercedes-AMG of Iron Lynx and Sean Gelael in the No. 32 BMW of Team WRT, the Fuji winner. Seventh through ninth went to the No. 87 Lexus of Akkodis ASP Team and Proton's two Mustangs, the No. 77 and No. 88.
The fastest Corvette in qualifying, on the other hand, fell to the bottom of the top ten. The No. 34 lost 1.841 seconds to Fleming in Hyperpole and starts tenth.
What the grid means for the title
Behind the ten Hyperpole cars, the rest line up in qualifying order: the No. 78 Lexus, the No. 91 Porsche of Manthey DK Engineering, the No. 54 Ferrari, the No. 23, the No. 69 BMW, the No. 58, the No. 79 Mercedes-AMG and, finally, the No. 27.
For the championship, that leaves a clear picture. Jonny Edgar leads the standings and, with a strong result, can wrap up the drivers' and teams' titles with TF Sport on Sunday, one race early. He starts from the second row of LMGT3, his closest pursuer from the last. Six hours is long enough to make up plenty of places, and a full course yellow at the right moment can upend entire strategies in this class. But whoever wants to keep the title open until Monza has to work through the field from the very back on Sunday.
