•    Thrilling Michelin 12H MUGELLO qualifying delivers GT3 pole for GetSpeed
•    Mercedes-AMG trio of Maro Engel, Benjamin Paque, Jordan Boisson star
•    Mühlner Motorsport eases to 992 pole in Italy, SebLajoux on 992 AM pole
•    Home joy for Dinamic Motorsport Maserati and Not Only Motorsport Ligier 
•    Watch race one of the new season LIVE at Creventic Motorsports TV on YouTube

 GETSPEED TEAM PCX RACING MERCEDES-AMG SOUVERÄN AUF POLE-POSITION BEI DEN MICHJELIN 12H MUGELLO

Mugello, Italy (20 March 2026):
Exemplary driving from Maro Engel in the third and final GT3 qualifying session at Mugello in Italy this evening secured a richly deserved Michelin 12H MUGELLO pole position for GetSpeed Team PCX Racing, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO squad claiming top spot on the grid by 0.2 seconds.

After equally strong performances from team-mates Jordan Boisson and Benjamin Paque in sessions one and two, Engel delivered the quickest GT3 lap of the day in the No.28 car in the final 15-minute run to see off a major challenge from Sainteloc Junior Team’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II.

“First of all, big credit to these guys – Jordan and Ben did a great job in qualifying and the team gave us a great car”, said a delighted Engel, “My word, this track on new tyres and low fuel is a lot of fun, I really enjoyed that. It’s great for us to start tomorrow from pole position, I’m happy about that, but obviously we know it’s a long race. For today, it’s a good result.”

Only a couple of tenths of a second were the difference on aggregate times going into Q3, with the Sainteloc Audi ahead thanks to the session two efforts of Elia Erhart, but in the end the No.18 trio of Erhart, Stephane Tribaudini and Pierre Kaffer had to settle for second on the grid for the opening round of the 2026 Michelin 24H SERIES European Series.

Row two of the GT3 grid features the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) EVO of Proton Competition, which was qualified by Constantin Dressler, Manuel Lauck and Dennis Marschall, and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Ajith RedAnt Racing’s Kobe de Breucker and brothers Ayrton and Yannick Redant.

Herberth Motorsport’s No.91 Porsche 911 of Ralf Bohn, Rolf Ineichen and Alfred Renauer qualified fifth overall, from the GT3 AM pole-sitting ARC Bratislava Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO which was piloted by Zdeno Mikulasko, Adam Konopka and Gerhard Tweraser.

Mühlner Motorsport secured a clear pole in the 992 class with the trio of Conrad Tox Leveau, Paul Meijer and Martin Rump sharing the No.921 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992 I), while 992 AM pole was earned by SebLajoux Racing’s No.888 line-up of Sebastien Lajoux, Louis Perrot and Anthony Vince.

Both the GTX and TCE-TCX classes delivered dominant pole qualifiers, each celebrating home success as Italian entries. Not Only Motorsport claimed TCE-TCX pole with Gino Rocchio, Filippo Tornaghi and Alberto Antonucci sharing their Ligier JS2 R. In GTX, Dinamic Motorsport’s Roberto and Amedeo Pampanini, partnered by Mauro Calamia, scorched to pole in the Maserati MC20 GT2. 

Dressler was the fastest driver during the first third of GT3 qualifying session one, producing a lap of 1m47.435s in the Proton Porsche, before then electing to pit and save tyres. As he pitted, Boisson then moved onto pole in the No.28 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG.

Into the closing minutes, Tribaudini went quickest for Sainteloc thanks to a lap of 1m46.762s which was a full half second quicker than the Proton Porsche. Ayrton Redant ended Q1 third in the Ajith RedAnt car, with Boisson fourth ahead of the Viper Niza Racing Mercedes-AMG of Dominic Ang. 

Era Motorsport’s Jake Hill wasted no time in Q2, pumping in the fastest GT3 lap of the day at that point in the Ferrari 296 GT3 with his opening flyer of 1m46.168s. He then lowered that to a time of 1m45.563s, helping to move the squad up the order on average times.

At the top, Lauck returned Proton to fastest on aggregate times with a lap of 1m45.995s but into the last six minutes Paque delivered the quickest lap of all at that stage with an effort of 1m44.934s for GetSpeed. Then, Erhart’s best of 1m45.401s lifted Sainteloc back to the provisional pole ahead of Paque, Lauck and de Breucker in the Ajith RedAnt Mercedes-AMG.

As session three began, the air getting progressively colder, less than 0.2 seconds split the Sainteloc and GetSpeed cars – a thrilling conclusion in prospect. Engel took first blood, the fastest time of the day of 1m44.681s, to move the Mercedes-AMG onto aggregate pole.

Kaffer only entered the session in the Audi with 10 minutes to go, and his first flyer was roughly a second shy of Engel’s best – which Engel had already reduced to 1m44.390s. In the end that was enough to claim pole for GetSpeed, ahead of Kaffer’s Audi, with Marschall third for Proton and Yannick Redant fourth in the No.93 Mercedes-AMG. 

Session one for the 992 class was realistically limited to 10 minutes, after an excursion early on for a GTX class car at Turn One. When qualifying resumed there was a flurry of activity, and a great battle for provisional pole between the Mühlner Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992 I) of Leveau and the QMMF by HRT Performance car of Abdulla Ali Al Khelaifi.  

Top place on the timesheets was traded between the very evenly matched duo during the closing minutes, with Leveau managing to edge the QMMF car by 0.3 seconds. Third fastest was another of the HRT cars, the No.928 piloted by Igor Sorokin, which was half a second shy of the sister Porsche.

Meijer strapped in to the Mühlner car for session two and, unsurprisingly, lapped very quickly from the get-go, but midway through Sebastien Lajoux in his No.888 SebLajoux Racing Porsche set the fastest time so far with a lap of 1m49.819s.

Meijer, with a lap of 1m50.335s, kept the No.921 Porsche on aggregate pole by 0.6 seconds while Lajoux put the No.888 second on average times. Luc Breukers delivered a lap of 1m50.608s to hoist the Red Camel-Jordans.nl entry into third overall, while QMMF was fourth with Ahmed Al-Emadi. 

For the all-important third session, Rump took driving duties for Mühlner and was within just a few tenths of team-mate Meijer to ensure 992 pole very comfortably. Rik Breukers battled up to fourth in session for Red Camel, which translated to second in 992 on aggregate.

Vince, driving the No.888, ensured SebLajoux bagged the 992 AM class pole ahead of the QMMF entry, Faesal Al Yafei taking session three in the latter, and third in 992 AM was the No.928 HRT car which was piloted in Q3 by Steven Gambrell. 

Vortex 2.0 driver Philippe Bonnel didn’t have the start he wanted to the opening qualifying session when his GTX class No.701 car pitched off the track under braking into Turn One, due to an ABS issue. The session was halted, then re-started with 10 minutes to go.

As the Vortex returned to the pits, taking no further part in the session, the Dinamic Motorsport Maserati MC20 GT2 of Roberto Pampanini took control in the class and ended Q1 fastest with a time of 1m53.349s. 

Amedeo Pampanini piloted the Maserati in session two, producing a fantastic effort of 1m49.933s, and in Q3 Calamia was quicker still with a superb opener of 1m48.157 seconds – putting the home squad fastest outright in the session which was also shared with 992 class runners. Vortex, of course, ended qualifying second in GTX.

Rocchio dominated TCE-TCX in the opening session, lapping with a best of 1m59.421s in the Not Only Motorsport entered Ligier, and in session two the car was a full 1.8 seconds faster in the hands of Tornaghi. Antonucci ran in Q3, producing a time of 1m59.264s to guarantee a truly faultless pole position on home ground.

Second quickest in TCE-TCX was the venerable SEAT Leon Cup Racer of asBest Racing’s Pia Ohlsson, Rafal Gieras and Thomas Alpiger. Ohlsson was the most competitive of the all-AM driving trio in the No.102 car.

Part one of the Michelin 12H MUGELLO, the first five and a half hours of racing, will begin at 12.10 local time tomorrow, Saturday, 21 March. Following an overnight cessation, the concluding six and a half hours will be contested on Sunday, 22 March. Watch the action live at Creventic Motorsports TV on YouTube or through the link at www.24hseries.com