Matt Griffin and RAM Racing gave Ferrari a home race pole position in GTE with Peter Kox doing the same for Lamborghini in GTC, all of which would have pleased the modest (so far) sun-kissed Italian crowd.
It wasn’t plain sailing for Griffin however because Pat Long in the #67 IMSA Porsche had seized the advantage with a 1:42.055 whilst Griffin was recovering from a spin into the gravel.
The Irishman explained: “I was on for about a mid-42 but I took a bit too much kerb into the last corner. We’ve had a bit of an oversteery balance to the car all weekend (though I think that is just the nature of this place), it threw me out a bit onto the Astroturf but I decided to keep the throttle pinned. I should have listened to Eduardo [Race Director] a bit more in the briefing because he told us the Astroturf takes longer to dry out than the track!”
That brought out the red flag but the time lost was added to the remainder of the session which was soon underway again. Griffin had honour to restore.
“I heard that Pat had done a 42 dead so I knew I had to go out and do it otherwise the boys would never have let me live it down. They told me my lap (a 1:41.994 was pole but I stayed on it the next lap because Pat was still out. Then they told me he had pitted so I came in too.”
So that is the order for GTE.
Jeannette in the sister RAM Racing #53 also performed well and will start third with a 1:41.994, albeit split by the last of the LMPC qualifiers.
Camathias was given the session by JMW and put in a strong 1:42.991, meaning JMW and their Dunlop tyres will certainly be in the mix too, starting fourth.
Peter Kox’s 1:44.637 was good enough for third best time in the combined GT field by the time of the red flag. He stayed top of GTC with his best of 1:43.752 and will start ahead of three GTE cars: #55, #77 and #75. #75 was rather confusing as it was being qualified by Perrodo and Crubile rather than quick (but absent on leave to N24 duties) man Collard, but Collard’s helmet was certainly fitted to Crubile’s head! It transpired that this is because Crubile’s lid isn’t a carbon one, so Manu lets him borrow his spare. Now that’s a teammate!
Lorenzo Gai will start second in GTC with a 1:44.235, despite a vicious spin under braking into Acque Minerale.
Paul Slinger
