•    Michelin 992 Endurance Cup powered by Porsche Motorsport pole for Paul Meijer
•    Unfortunate penalty for Team Parker Racing drops Harry King from P1 to P2
•    Great performance from Meijer also ensures PRO-AM class pole for MDM
•    SebLajoux Racing to start 12-hour race from outright P6 and AM-S pole
•    AM-B class pole position secured by Q1 Trackracing’s No.56 Porsche 911 

  MEIJER SICHERT POLE FÜR MDM MOTORSPORT IN DRAMATISCHEM TOP-10-SHOOT-OUT IN SPA

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (5 September 2025):

Paul Meijer impressed in both regular qualifying and the exciting and decisive Top 10 Shoot-Out at Spa-Francorchamps this afternoon to secure overall and PRO-AM class pole position for MDM Motorsport, ahead of Saturday’s Michelin 992 Endurance Cup powered by Porsche Motorsport. 

Meijer, who is partnered for this weekend’s action in the Ardennes by Tom Coronel, Hans Weijs and Jan Jaap van Roon, actually concluded the all-new single flying lap Shoot-Out second fastest, just 0.155 seconds shy of original pole position qualifier Harry King. 

As a result of an unfortunate penalty for King’s Team Parker Racing squad though – the No.666 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) leaving pitlane just outside the allotted 10 second departure window after a tyre-warmer became caught on the left-rear suspension – pole was confirmed for Meijer. The ultimate result is a repeat of last year, where Meijer, Coronel and van Roon combined to take pole.

“I’m super happy”, said Meijer, “We already knew beforehand that there was a big chance it would come down to Harry King and me. Last year we were lucky with the weather forecast, which gave us P1, but this time it was all about speed. I’m really happy that we managed to take P1 like this.”

Coronel added: “It feels a bit like a repeat of last year – everything was so close back then too. Last year we were on pole, and if we had qualified 10th this time it wouldn’t have felt great. I have full confidence in Paul [Meijer], he’s just incredibly fast and knows the game. It’s really special to be on pole two years in a row.”

Team Parker Racing lines up on the front row for the 12-hour race, where King will be partnered by Kiyoto Fujinami, Taichi Watarai and the driver known as Bankcy. Row two comprises the 48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON car of Dylan Pereira, Tobias Muller, Gabriele Piana and Carlos Rivas and the Dream 2 Drive entry of Gregor Jeets, Markus Kajak, Tauras Tunyla and Kajus Siksneils.

Fifth on the grid, thanks to a strong lap from Sebastian Freymuth in the Shoot-Out, is the HRT Performance car which also features Hugo Ellis, Pedro Juan Moreno and Steven Gambrell. Sharing row three will be the AM-S class pole qualifying No.888 SebLajoux Racing Porsche of the eponymous Sebastien Lajoux, Stephane Perrin, Marc Guillot and Shoot-Out driver Louis Perrot.

Seventh fastest Jukka Honkavuori was the last of the Shoot-Out qualifiers to retain a time in the session, and so took second in AM-S for PTE operated by Manthey – the team which also features Ahmed Al-Emadi, Eric Santos and Lucas Wolf. 

The three remaining teams which progressed to the Shoot-Out, Fulgenzi Racing, Red Ant Racing and Red Camel-Jordans.nl, had times for Harley Haughton, Steven Palette and Luc Breukers, cancelled as a result of track limits infringements and so they start at the tail of the top 10.

Pole position in AM-B was decided during the three regular qualifying sessions, with the No.56 Q1 Trackracing car of Australian compatriots Danny Stutterd, Darren Currie and Adrian Flack combining to finish 17th overall on the times and duly taking the class pole by 1.3 seconds on average times.

Treaded Michelin tyres were certainly the way to go for the opening 15-minute regular qualifying period, the first and third sectors of the track the worst affected by earlier rain, and times unsurprisingly tumbled throughout with a flurry of improvements at the conclusion of session one.

Luc Breukers set the early pace in the No.9 Red Camel-Jordans.nl car, but by the end Piana had the box seat in the 48 LOSCH Motorsport BLACK FALCON Porsche some 0.7 seconds clear of the competition – a time of 2m34.971 seconds. 

Freymuth was second for HRT, with Breukers 0.5 seconds further adrift and a tenth ahead of Fujinami in the Team Parker car. Provisional pole in AM-S was set by Wolf in the PTE Operated by Manthey Porsche, Weijs topped PRO-AM for MDM and Stutterd headed AM-B for Q1 Trackracing.

Such was the rate at which the track surface dried, early in the second 15-minute session drivers were already 12 seconds faster than their Q1 counterparts – most now running slicks – and by the finish they were 14 seconds quicker than the opening session. 

The No.48 Porsche remained on top thanks to Muller producing a time of 2m20.733 seconds, marginally faster than Watarai in the No.666 entry, but on average times the advantage for 48 LOSCH Motorsport was up to 0.8 seconds – now from the Team Parker car. 

Rik Breukers kept the No.9 Porsche third on average, with the Manthey car still the best of the AM-S entries in fourth overall with Honkavuori. Perrot though, for SebLajoux Racing, was 0.3 seconds quicker than Honkavuori to move to within touching distance in AM-S. Coronel, meanwhile, kept MDM on PRO-AM pole, Currie doing the same for Q1 in AM-B.

Provisional outright pole was ultimately sealed in session three by King who delivered a stunning lap of 2m19.342 seconds midway through, just edging the team ahead of the 48 LOSCH entry on by exactly a tenth of a second on average times.

Only one other driver was anywhere close to King’s pace, that man Meijer who produced a lap just 0.3 seconds shy of the former’s pace and thus placing MDM’s car fourth overall and ensuring a PRO-AM class pole position regardless of the outcome of the Top 10 Shoot-Out. 

Third overall on average after regular qualifying was Red Camel-Jordans.nl, with Fabian Danz driving, with two other PRO entries completing the top six at that stage with Dream 2 Drive’s No.333 car fifth and HRT Performance ending the three sessions sixth overall. 

Four AM-S entries then rounded out the top 10 to progress to the Shoot-Out, SebLajoux Racing, PTE operated by Manthey, Red Ant Racing and Fulgenzi Racing. The latter was one of the stories of the day, the No.17 car having had to be repaired following a hefty excursion at Raidillon in morning practice for driver Andrea Girondi. He went on to take Q3 and helped seal a Shoot-Out berth. 

The No.121 BLACK FALCON entry of Joao Barbosa, William Freire and Joao Goncalves, which runs in AM-B, is set to take the start of tomorrow’s race from the back of the 25-car grid after missing all of qualifying due to repairs following damage sustained in free practice. 

This evening there will be a night practice at Spa before all attention turns to tomorrow’s race which gets underway at 09.45 local time. Every minute can be watched live at Creventic Motorsports TV via YouTube with links also available at the official race website www.992-endurance-cup.com