The front row places were taken by the Vitaphone Racing Team (Maserati MC12) in the qualifying session held today at Brno, Czech Republic.??Pole was taken by German Michael Bartels, here sharing the drive with current championship leader, Thomas Biagi. The reigning champion stopped the clock at 1'54"064 on his first lap, a time over a second and a half faster than last year's pole. ??Alongside him on row one for tomorrow's 13.15 race will be his team mate Christian Montanari. The driver from San Marino, with his usual partner Miguel Ramos in the car, set a time just 61 seconds off pole pace (1'54"125). This was the first time that he had qualified on the front row since making his FIA GT debut. ??The two Playteam Sarafree Maserati MC12s will start from sixth and seventh. Andrea Bertolini managed to limit the effect of the extra 80kg ballast in the car, equivalent to 1"4 on the tough Czech circuit. His top time of 1'55"336 was set on his first timed lap. He and his partner, Andrea Piccini, will be out to close the gap to Thomas Biagi in the overall standings and will try to make the most of their high performing and consistent Pirelli tyres.


Alessandro Pier Guidi and Giambattista Giannoccaro, having been quickest in the morning's first free practice session, qualified his MC12 in seventh with a time of 1'55"492. ??The two JMB Racing Maserati MC12s that will compete in the Citation Cup also did well. Alain Ferté, who is substituting Stephane Daoudi alongside Ben Aucott, was the quickest of the competitors in this championship (1'58"674), or thirteenth overall. Peter Kutemann set the eighteenth best time (2'01"327) to take second in the Citation Cup.??Round eight of the FIA GT International Championship will be beamed live on Sky Sport and the race will last the usual two hours.??Michael Bartels: "It was a positive qualifying session for our team and I am extremely happy with my display. Starting on pole tomorrow is better than we could have hoped for as we set up the car for the race. Tomorrow will be different as strategy will play a key role".??Christian Montanari: "Although I missed out on pole, I am pleased to be on the all-Vitaphone front row. I would like to thank the team for fixing the car after the problems we had in the first free practice session. Brno is a track that I enjoy and the race will be an interesting one. We will be aiming for pole".