Gulf 12 Hours pole for Inception Racing

• Ferrari front row lock-out in qualifying at Yas Marina Circuit

• #44 Mercedes-AMG of Geyer Valmont Racing takes top spot in Pro-Am

• Am pole for Garage 59’s McLaren, featuring Williams F1 team principal James Vowles

• Two-part race begins at 9am local time (6am CET) on Sunday. All the action will be streamed live

The Ferrari 296 GT3 of Inception Racing earned pole position for the 15th Gulf 12 Hours under lights at the spectacular Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The #70 of Brendan Iribe, Frederik Schandorff and Ollie Milroy set the standard under lights around the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix track to take provisional pole for the first, eight-hour, part of the race, which begins at 9am local time (6am CET) on Sunday.

“It was my first time to run fresh tyres this week so I had a lot of learning to do,” said Dubai-based Milroy. “It’s a home race for me and hopefully we can put on a good show in the race, but there’s a long way to go.”

Another Ferrari, the #77 entered by Al Manar by Dragon for Al Faisal Al Zubair, Ben Tuck and Chris Froggatt was second, to give the Italian marque a clean sweep of the front row. Rinat Salikhov, Gabriele Piana and Marvin Dienst were third in the #81 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Winward Racing.

The qualifying result was determined by the combined average of each driver’s fastest time during a four-part session. Drivers had 15 minutes each to get the most of their machinery on the challenging 5.281km track.

In the Pro-Am class, Australian team Geyer Valmont Racing took the qualifying honours in the #44 Mercedes-AMG GT3, driven by Jayden Ojeda, Brendon Leitch, Sergio Pires and Marcel Zalloua. That was good enough for eighth overall.

Local team DFYNE by Dragon were second in Pro-Am with the #88 Ferrari 296 GT3. A strong performance from Oscar Ryndziewcz, Giacomo Altoé and Giovanni Altoé put the Dubai-based team in 11th overall.

Just a few days after his Altassian Williams Racing team concluded its Formula 1 season, team principal James Vowles was behind the wheel of a Garage 59-entered McLaren 720S GT3. Alongside team-mates – and experienced GT racers – Anthony West, Marco Pulcini and Mark Sansom, Vowles helped the #8 car earn pole position in the Am class, 13th overall.

“That felt great,” said Vowles. “We look fairly strong at the moment. Our race is just about making sure that we're fighting amongst everyone else. We're in a competitive place. It's 12 hours though, so let's see what happens. We just need to keep it nice and clean.”

For the first time, Gulf 12 Hours qualifying took place on Pirelli P Zero DHG-specification tyres, which are constructed from materials which include an FSC-certified natural rubber component.