The Superpole sessions to sort out the front rows of each category of the 2023 Ferrari World Finals were held in the early afternoon today with the Coppa Shell AM getting proceedings underway before the Coppa Shell and the Trofeo Pirelli and Pirelli AM.
Superpole Coppa Shell AM
Martinus Richter (Mertel Motorsport) took pole position on the grid dedicated to the Coppa Shell AM World Final with a time of 1m53.648s.
Richter was 1.104s ahead of Stefano Marrazzi, who seemed certain of taking the Superpole until the accident that occurred to Motohiko Isozaki.
The Japanese driver, one of the favourites for the top slot in the category, went off the track in the third sector, causing the red flags to come out. Third place went to Kirk Baerwaldt with the 488 Challenge Evo of the Kessel Racing team.
Paolo Scudieri (Sa.Mo.Car) finished the session in fifth just ahead of Isozaki, credited with a time that was more than six seconds higher than the benchmark set by Martinus Richter.
Superpole Coppa Shell
Ernst Kirchmayr grabbed the pole for the Coppa Shell World Final at the last minute with a time of 1m52.592s. The best time of the Gohm - Baron Motorsport team driver was obtained when the chequered flag was already deployed, on his last run as he edged out Thomas Gostner from the top slot.
Gostner, favourite for the category pole after going quickest in this morning's qualifying, first set the provisional best, then went off the track with just under 4 minutes to go in the session, crashing the rear of his car into the barriers.
The race direction brought out the red flags to allow the stewards to recover the Italian's Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo, but the flags came out a few seconds before Manuela Gostner crossed the finish line, and she set the best time by just 8 thousandths of a second over her father's mark.
Manuela's time was scrubbed because it was obtained under the red flags. The CDP-MP Racing team driver then improved on her time at the end of the session, but she could not go any better than third place ahead of Cameron Root by just over a tenth.
Fons Scheltema was a full 2.6 seconds behind Kirchmayr's best time, while Axel Sartingen finished in sixth place, perhaps the most disappointing drive of the session as far as the Coppa Shell was concerned.
Superpole Trofeo Pirelli and Pirelli AM
The Superpole sessions concluded with the 10 minutes in which the six best drivers in the Trofeo Pirelli and Trofeo Pirelli AM categories thrashed it out for the pole.
Thomas Fleming took revenge on Eliseo Donno over the flying lap by taking the class Superpole. Fleming powered to a time of 1m49.395s, the fastest lap of the weekend overall, halfway through the session.
Despite giving it his all until the end, Donno was unable to do better than a time that was 299 thousandths slower than the one that earned the HR Owen - FF Corse team driver the pole.
Bence Valint was third, just over three tenths behind Fleming, while Adrian Sutil was the last driver who was less than a second away from the top. Matt Kurzejewski and Szymon Ladniak finished fifth and sixth respectively.
