•    BWT Mücke Motorsport’s Mattis Pluschkell dominates wet race one qualifying
•    Nigel Moore makes inspired slicks call to top race two grid for Aust Motorsport
•    Final two races of season at Spa streamed LIVE today at Creventic Motorsports TV

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (4 September 2026):
Mattis Pluschkell and Nigel Moore were the stars of Prototype Cup Europe qualifying at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps this morning, securing respective pole positions for the final two races of the 2026 season.

Pluschkell, driving the No.8 Duqueine D09 of BWT Mücke Motorsport, was in a league of his own in the wet opening qualifying session to claim pole for the first of this afternoon’s races by just over two seconds. 

In the subsequent race two session, Moore made an inspired early call to pit for slick Michelin tyres and he duly took pole position for Aust Motorsport in the No.3 Ligier JS P325 by a full 2.5 seconds from the GMS Team Ligier of Danny Soufi and championship leader Valentino Catalano.

With a wet track greeting drivers for the start of race one qualifying, most tentatively built up to speed in the first 15 minute period. Pluschkell was the first to show his hand in the No.8 Duqueine and delivered a strong initial flyer of 2m29.143 seconds.

The next time around the German driver improved to a time of 2m27.699s and, with less than half of the session to go, he was already head and shoulders above the competition. He pitted with under five minutes to go and after a check of the tyre pressures, Pluschkell ventured back out onto track.

Prototype Cup Europe debutant Torsten Kratz, piloting the No.49 Larea GT1 Racing Duqueine, was second fastest with four minutes to go but Catalano, in the No.11 GMS Team Ligier, then moved 0.2 seconds quicker than Kratz

There was very little to separate second to sixth, but nobody had an answer for Pluschkell. He had gone quicker in the first two sectors on his final lap of the session, but aborted the lap in order to pit in readiness for qualifying two.

Aust Motorsport’s Maxim Dirickx produced a late lap of 2m29.746s to leap onto the front row, moving just a tenth clear of title rival Catalano and two seconds shy of Pluschkell. Kratz ended up fourth fastest from the two Allay Racing Ligiers of Emil and Linus Hellberg. 

Moore took over driving duties of the Aust Ligier for Q2 and after an initial sighting lap he pitted to change from treaded to slick Michelins with track beginning to dry more. The big question from the outset was whether the Briton would find enough grip on the dry tyres.

Emil and Linus Hellberg held the top two places with half of the session to go, split by four tenths of a second, and the Swedish siblings were a couple of seconds clear of the rest at that stage. Markus Pommer, though, in the No.18 BWT Mücke Duqueine, split the brothers with a time of 2m29.628s before Emil Hellberg went faster still with a lap of 2m28.591s.

Pommer improved his pace the next time around, but so too did Emil Hellberg and the No.48 Allay Racing driver was half a second clear. Pommer then shot to the top of the timing screens with a lap of 2m27.158s and with time for just one more lap, there was only a tenth of a second in it. 

Moore, showing maximum commitment to build the heat in his fresh slicks, was seven seconds off pole pace with his first full lap but on his penultimate effort of the session he delivered a time of 2m25.167s to rocket onto provisional pole. He then improved by another two seconds with his final effort, a superb 2m23.214s.

Danny Soufi, driving the No.11 GMS Ligier, importantly grabbed second on the race two grid with a best of 2m25.717s, just under three tenths faster than Hellberg, who was a fraction clear of Theo Micouris in the No.74 Team Virage Ligier. Pommer ended the session fifth, sharing row six of the race two grid with Linus Hellberg.

The first race of the weekend is due to get underway at 12.55 local time with race two following at 17.20. Both encounters can be watched LIVE online at Creventic Motorsports TV on YouTube. Links for live timing and the streaming can be found at www.prototype-cup-europe.com