Estoril - 21/10/2001   Qualifying Report   Heavy showers were the pattern of the day, and helped to create the most unusual grid of the season - Antonio Garcia (left) starts from pole for the final round of the Championship, in the #76 RWS Porsche, sharing with Dieter Quester. Garcia was first out in the Super Pole, on a dry track, but rain fell before he finished his lap, leaving the rest to cope with a wet, but drying surface, and a difficult tyre choice for those going at the end. The morning session began wet, then began to dry, leaving JC-W quickest, with fellow Lister driver Julian Bailey third quickest - but their times were a good ten seconds off a dry time. The Carsport Vipers were second and fifth fastest, with the Prodrive Ferrari fourth and the Bouchut / Belloc / Monteiro Viper sixth. All three Belmondo GTS-Rs missed out on the top six. Fabio Babini was fastest in N-GT, over half a second quicker than Sascha Maassen in the #77 RWS Porsche. A late lap from Bruno Eichmann demoted the #62 Ferrari to seventh fastest in N-GT, thus missing the Super Pole. So with Garcia almost getting in a dry lap, and the rest coping with slicks on a wet track, or wets on a wet track, or the option of intermediates on a drying track, pole was headed for the N-GT class for the first time. "I was very, very lucky," explained Garcia. "It was a big surprise, for sure, but tomorrow is another matter - I'll be on pole for just a few metres." The man alongside him will be Jamie Campbell-Walter. "Wet or dry, it doesn't really matter. It was pretty dry when I did my Super Pole lap, and unfortunately I was on wet tyres. We decided to play safe as it was difficult to tell from the TV how wet the track was." Mike Hezemans split the Listers, as he did in the morning session: "It was quite an amusing lap, and I was sliding more than normal. Sebastiaan had just finished his lap and he came on the radio and said we should put on intermediates, but as I had just driven out of the pits, I could not do anything." Jeroen Bleekemolen will start #3, and his partner reckons it will be "between Jamie, the Ferrari and us." The Ferrari starts fifth, ahead of the second Carsport Viper and the lead Larbre GTS-R. Other than Garcia, the N-GT runners had the worst of the conditions. Peter and Goueslard already had slicks fitted as the rain fell, so they had the track at its wettest and the worst type of tyre for the conditions. They were 11th and 12th. Riccitelli took second in class, but (a meaningless) ten seconds slower than Garcia. The rival Ferrari 360 starts in 20th place - hoping for it to be wet? Or would that mean that the Porsches could finish the race with one stop? There's one point between Riccitelli and the little men in the 360, and the battle between them should be a fascinating one. Porsche lost out in the GT class of the ALMS - will they lose out in Europe too? How many do you recognise? Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport