The honours in the two qualifying sessions held today at Paul Ricard HTTT for rounds 9 & 10 of the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship were shared by the Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3 and the Hexis Racing AMR Aston Martin DBRS9.

Qualifying for Round 9
In the first 20-minute session it was Jens Kingsmann who claimed the maiden FIA GT3 pole position for himself, Alpina and for the BMW Alpina B6 in the last few minutes.  The early pace was set by Phil Quaife in the #56 CRS Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia and Dino Lunardi in the #18 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S, but with five minutes of the session remaining Thomas Accary made a bid to claim his second pole position of the season only to be beaten into second place by Klingmann by just 0.013 seconds just before the chequered flag.

This afternoon’s race will see a BMW Alpina and Aston Martin front row, with Dino Lunardi’s Porsche lining up on row 2 with the Audi R8 LMS of Nicolas Armindo.

Jens Klingsmann (#25 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3) – Pole Position Round 9
“I am very pleased with this result.  At the beginning of this event at Paul Ricard we weren’t competitive but we’ve worked hard to improve the car a lot.  This is the first time I’ve been here and I had a lot to learn but now in qualifying we put it all together.  I did one good lap and it was good enough for pole position, but there was a lot of traffic.  It was may last lap and if I didn’t get it on this one then we would’ve had no lap, so it was a bit scary but in the end it was top.  Over the race distance we are very competitive but we now have to change the set up a little bit for the race.  We will have good pace in the race.”

CLICK HERE for the results from qualifying for Round 9

CLICK HERE for notes from Round 9 qualifying

Qualifying for Round 10
The second 20-minute qualifying session also ended with a BMW Alpina / Aston Martin front row but this time it was the Hexis Racing Aston Martin of Frederic Makowiecki that topped the timesheets, 0.429 seconds ahead of the Claudia Hürtgen’s BMW Alpina.  Once again it was a Porsche that made the early running in the session with Martin Ragginger in the #22 Trackspeed Porsche 997.  The Austrian’s time was being challenged by Diego Alessi in the Marc Sourd Racing Corvette but with five minutes to go Makowiecki set the fastest lap of the session and improved the time further as the chequered flag was waved.  Hürtgen was able to maintain her front row position, with Alessi and Ragginger filling the row 2 places.  Kevin Estre in the MP Racing BMW Alpina was 5th fastest and will line up on row 3 with Jonathan Hirschi in the #2 Matech GT Racing Ford GT.

Frederic Makowiecki (#4 Hexis Racing AMR Aston Martin DBRS9) - Pole Position Round 10
“I am very happy for the team who have done a really good job and I want to be really quick for them as I know I am in the best team.  I had a very big problem with the traffic on my first fast lap; I lost a lot of time in the last part of the lap.  Manu qualified in 16th because the traffic was also very bad but it is the same for everyone.  If he could’ve got a clear lap he would’ve been in the top ten, but we can do a good race.”

Claudia Hürtgen (#24 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3) - Second Round 10
“It was a good session and a good lap.  It wasn’t the best lap, there was a lot of traffic, but it was the same for everyone.  I found a way and I’m very happy with P2.  The car is strong here, we have worked a lot since March when we started here at Paul Ricard.  It has been a big step to come back here with a better car.  We still have work to do on the car, there are somethings I’d like to change but this is the first year and I’m very happy to be on the front row here.  Pole Position in the first session for Jens and P2 now for me this is very good for the team and they are very motivated.”

Diego Alessi (#17 Marc Sourd Racing Corvette Z06R GT3) - Third Round 10
“We have a very strong car which was very, very consistent for all of the session.  I just missed my perfect lap and I wasn’t able to take advantage of the brand new tyres because of the traffic.  I also made a little mistake but never the less it is quite good because our car is very strong and powerful and we are very confident for the two races.”

CLICK HERE for the results from qualifying for Round 10

CLICK HERE for notes from Round 10 qualifying

Round 9 of the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship will take place at 17:30 today, with Round 10 due to start at 16:45 on Sunday 4 October.