Le Mans Series

LMS 1000KM do Algarve – Qualifying result

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

Team Oreca Matmut AIM took their first pole position in the Le Mans Series at the Autódromo Internacional Algarve this afternoon. In a session that was interesting all the way to the end the French team managed to beat all of its rivals in their race for pole position.

The qualifying session for the GT cars started at 7.10 pm, a small delay caused by a red flag during one of the support events. In the first couple of minutes of the session only the Ferrari F430s of Easyrace and JMB Racing and the Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR (#88) were out on the track, all the other teams opting to stay in and wait for a better moment.

After ten minutes more cars came out on the track but it took until six minutes remained in the session before the top teams started to set fast lap times. Gianmaria Bruni was the first to break the 1:46 mark as he posted a 1:45.7, followed by a 1:44.908 a lap later. Behind him Patrick Pilet moved into second place with a 1:45.744.

With just over four minutes remaining Richard Lietz improved the fastest lap time and put his #77 Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR on provisional pole. Bruni did what he could but only managed a 1:44.868, still 0.064 slower than the Austrian. As the chequered flag came out the JMW Ferrari had already gone into the pit, confirming the pole position for the Porsche team. Team Modena moved into third place right at the end of the session.

The only car not taking part this qualifying session was the Snoras Spyker Squadron Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R. With all their rivals out on the track the Dutch team was changing the engine on the Spyker.

In the GT1 class it was the Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R that was by far the fastest car. Yann Clairay eventually set a 1:42.052, with the Larbre Saleen only capable of setting a 1:44.028, almost two seconds slower than the Corvette.

At 7.50 pm the LMP session was started and almost immediately the #009 Lola Aston Martin (Turner), the #14 Kolles Audi (Karthikeyan), the #12 Signature Courage-Oreca (Ragues) and the #10 Team Oreca Matmut AIM Oreca (Senna) went out. Not much later their example was followed by several LMP2 cars.

Turner’s first fastest time was a 1:37.028, over eight tenths of a second quicker than the Audi. One lap later both drivers improved their lap time with several seconds but it was still Turner at the front in 1:32.360, Karthikeyan now 0.676s behind the Lola Aston Martin. Turner then had one slow lap before another flying lap meant another improvement of the provisional pole time, now a 1:31.556. Behind him Bruno Senna moved into second place at just under three tenths of a second. Karthikeyan and Mondini were third and fourth

In LMP2 it was Tommy Erdos who was quickest after 10 minutes of qualifying, 0.85s ahead of the Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola Judd and another second and a half on the OAK Racing Pescarolo #35. Olivier Pla moved ahead of Ajlani’s OAK Racing car a minute later.

Behind Turner the drivers kept pushing to close the gap and with eight minutes left in the session Senna had closed the gap to 0.264s, with Mondini in third. With Lapierre also on track the Team Oreca colleagues kept pushing and one minute later Lapierre was on provisional pole (1:31.460) and Senna was second (1:31.536).

Lapierre kept on going and posted a 1:31.020 with just over 5,5 minutes remaining, a full second quicker than the times posted in yesterdays free practice session. Olivier Pla and Philipp Peter also set faster times, moving the two Zyteks into second and third in LMP2.

The other Zytek in the field, the Strakka Racing GZ09S, quietly moved up and one minute after its LMP2 sisters moved into the top three it was the Strakka Zytek (driven by Danny Watts) that moved into second in LMP1.

Olivier Pla continued his strong run and posted a 1:34.296, fast enough to beat the RML time and move into provisional LMP2 pole.

With just over two minutes left Lapierre went into the pit box, but the session was far from over. Stefan Mücke in the #007 Lola Aston Martin set a very fast time bu it was not yet enough for pole. Behind him Senna went on and as the chequered flag was already out he again posted a fastest sector time, but at the line the advantage was lost and the Brazilian was still at two tenths from pole.

As Mücke moved into the pit lane it was certain that Nicolas Lapierre had taken pole position for the 1000km do Algarve. Olivier Pla will start from the LMP2 pole.