SPA24H: Gotz stripped of race pole

Mercedes driver Maximilian Gotz has lost pole position for this weekend's Spa 24 Hours for a yellow-flag infringement.

The #86 factory HTP Mercedes-AMG GT3 had his laptime cancelled for improving under yellow flags during the super pole session that set the top 20 places on the grid for the prestige round of the Blancpain GT Series. The decision means that Clemens Schmid is promoted to pole position in the non-factory HTP car and Felix Rosenqvist moves up to the front row in the Auto Sport Promotion factory car.

• Top six Mercedes demoted on grid

Gotz's second-best time puts him sixth on the grid, maintaining the top-six lock-out by Mercedes.

The yellow flags were shown after Shane van Gisbergen slowed and pulled off the track in his Garage 59 McLaren 650S GT3.

A statement from the team said that it noticed an anomaly on its data and asked the New Zealander to stop as a precaution. The McLaren took part in Saturday morning's warm-up session and will compete in the race, which starts at 4:30 p.m. local time.

Originally on Autosport.com