Porsche on pole, Aussies in the mix, SunEnergy1 back in the game at Spa

Matteo Cairoli has scored a sensational Super Pole for the 75th CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa at the wheel of the #20 Huber Motorsport Porsche.

Meanwhile, Aussie teams are in the mix with both Grove Racing and Manthey EMA Motorsport at the pointy-end following solid top-20 performances in the 30-minute Super Pole session.

Manthey EMA will start their Porsche from 14th thanks to Julien Andlauer's solid lap, while Earl Bamber qualified the Grove Racing Porsche he'll share with Brenton Grove, Stephen Grove and Anton de Pasquale in 17th.

There was high drama for defending Bathurst 12 Hour winners Sun Energy 1 Racing following a massive crash involving team owner Kenny Habul earlier in the week.

Habul, who owns property on Conrod Straight at Mount Panorama and has twice won Australia's International Enduro, found the wall heavily at Raidillon during pre-qualifying with medical experts ruling him out of the race.

The team, however, will still compete with a replacement chassis to be sourced allowing co-drivers Chaz Mostert, Nicky Catsburg and Austrian Martin Konrad to continue the race.

After an initial effort to replace Habul with Bathurst 12 Hour and Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia regular Liam Talbot fell short - on account of him being unable to arrive in time to complete a formation lap on the circuit prior to the race as required by regulations - GetSpeed Racing Mercedes-AMG team boss and Bronze-ranked driver Adam Osieka will instead fill in for the side-lined Habul.

The replacement car completed laps in the night practice session on Friday evening, ahead of Saturday's race start, ensuring they can make the grid.

Tomorrow's race will mark the first time since 2013 that car from outside the Pro class starts on overall pole, with Cairoli and his crew-mates competing for Bronze Cup honours at this weekend's race. It follows Thursday night's rain-affected Qualifying session, which produced an unlikely Super Pole line-up featuring cars from five different classes.

The early pace was set by the #6 K-PAX Racing Lamborghini of Franck Perera, whose 2m17.243s remained the benchmark until Alessio Rovera posted a scorching 2m16.996s in the #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari. With just three cars to run it appeared that the Pro dominance of Super Pole might hold, only for Cairoli to post a 2m16.880s on his first flying lap.

It was, the Italian said afterwards, only 80 percent of what was possible, but it was enough to move him to the top of the classification. There were still two cars to run, but neither Dean MacDonald (#5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren) nor Klaus Bachler (#911 Pure Racing Porsche) could topple Cairoli. The line-up for the #20 Huber Motorsport Porsche also features Antares Au, Tim Heinemann and Jannes Fittje.

The #51 Ferrari will start on the front row, followed by the #911 Porsche and the #6 Lamborghini. The #5 McLaren took fifth overall and also scored Gold Cup pole, while Silver Cup honours went to the #58 Grasser Racing Lamborghini of Fabrizio Crestani in P7. The only class settled yesterday evening was Pro-Am, with Barwell Motorsport represented in Super Pole by Dennis Lind. The Dane steered the #78 Lamborghini to 19th on the overall grid.

The session also featured a star performance from 19-year-old Doriane Pin, who qualified the #83 Iron Dames Lamborghini 12th overall on her very first appearance in Super Pole. It was an impressive display from the French teenager, who also posted the quickest first sector of the session.

The 75th CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa will get underway tomorrow at 16:30 local time (Midnight in Australia) with the #20 Huber Motorsport Porsche taking its place at the head of the field.

The full race will be streamed live in English, German, French and Italian on the GT World YouTube channel.

Image: Courtesy Spa 24 Hours