American Le Mans Series

Gené, Franchitti and Jeannette on LMP poles

Ten minutes after the GT cars had ended their session the LMP1, LMP2 and LMPC cars were sent out on the track. While LMP1 and LMP2 qualifying were not really exciting the battle in LMPC lasted until the very last second.

Having been repaired after its crash this morning the Drayson Racing Lola Judd was taken out by Emanuele Pirro. Despite setting a fast lap time of 1:46.940, the Lola Aston Martin and the two Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs were soon lapping even quicker.

Halfway the session Marc Gené had posted the fastest lap time, a 1:45.214. Nic Minassian in the sister car was 0.627s behind, with Stefan Mücke’s Lola Aston Martin in third place. 0.866s from the Spanish Peugeot driver.

Marino Franchitti had meanwhile taken provisional pole position in LMP2, just under three tenths of a second ahead of the Dyson Lola and a second ahead of the Cytosport Porsche.
In the LMPC category it was Gunnar Jeannette ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Christophe Bouchut.

The top five overall went into the pit lane, but the battle for the LMPC pole position continued. Ryan Hunter-Reay briefly overtook Jeannette, but soon after the #99 Oreca FLM09 was back in front. Meanwhile JR Hildebrand passed Bouchut to take third in class.

Only six cars were out with the clock still indicating that there were nine minutes left. Marino Franchitti then aborted his qualifying run after a spin out on the track at Turn 15.

While Franchitti drove back to the pit lane Hunter-Reay and Hildebrand improved their lap times and sent Jeannette to third in class. The battle in LMPC continued and with the time ticking away the three cars kept lapping at a fabulous pace. Jeannette posted the provisional pole position time with just over two minutes left. As the checkered flag was about to come out Hunter-Reay managed to squeeze out just that little bit extra to take provisional pole position and it looked as if he would take it. But Gunnar Jeanette was the last man to laugh, taking pole position for Green Earth Team Gunnar on his final lap in 1:55.279.

Post qualifying quotes:

Gunnar Jeannette: “It was really exciting. It is an honor to have the first pole for this new class in the series. Our G-Oil car was really hooked up and we skipped the practice session this morning to prepare for the race. To take the pole over a team like Level 5 Motorsports is an honor. For tomorrow we’re going to aim for a finish. We are really happy to show our hand and see that we’re quickest, but our aim is really a finish.”

Marino Franchitti: “It was certainly very close, but we thought our competition wasn’t showing everything they had. And as it showed they were close in qualifying. It is great to start of the season with a pole. We have a great new sponsor in GE and it is great to welcome them with a pole. It is going to be fun for the fans tomorrow.”