GT/GTC
As expected, qualifying turned out to be a straight fight between the Ferraris in both classes, given their straight line pace. RAM Racing’s #52 edged ever closer to the championship with another point bagged for pole position by Matt Griffin, a 1:55.374 securing the car’s third pole of the season, but it makes no real mathematical difference to the championship permutations. Only a win this evening for Proton’s #77 and a DNF for #52 could prevent a follow-on title party for RAM Racing.
Andrea Bertolini in the JMW Ferrari kept Griffin honest throughout however, trading places at the top and ending the session only 0.05 seconds behind. Griffin was pleased with this because Ram Racing are using the hard rear tyre so are confident for the race. Marco Cioci was next up for AF Corse, but 0.4s further back. Gunnar Jeanette was fourth with a 1:56.132. Nick Tandy was trying hard to break the Ferrari stranglehold at the front of the field although the point for pole was never looking realistic. In the circumstances Tandy was very happy with the laptime and fifth place was as good as it was going to get, not least because the other Porsches didn’t manage to qualify ahead of the lead GTC cars.
Heading those GTC cars at the start will be the #68 SMP Ferrari thanks to Mika Salo, so SMP Racing can very much control this race from the front. Expect #68 to quickly let second placed sister car #69 through to the lead and then act as its tail gunner. A possibly vital championship point was sacrificed, because Mika hadn’t realised that there was a point for pole, but it is still very much advantage SMP Racing provided that #69 doesn’t have any problems and they haven’t in the last three races.
Villorba Corse’s fine debut continues with a third placed grid slot provided by Steeve Hiesse, ahead of the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari. Rizzoli could only manage fifth fastest in the title-contending AF Corse #62, ahead of the Lamborghini and the pair of BMW’s but disappointed to have lost time in the first sector. The BMWs are headed by the Ecurie Ecosse car after the efforts of both Quaife and Millroy (Millroy doing the quickest time for the car as he took the flag) but at least the DKR BMW was circulating, having missed most of yesterday’s running after Lecuyer’s crash in Free Practice 1. Enjalabaert and Accary had only completed a handful of laps and the car still has a fuel pump problem so it would be hard for DKR to aim for anything other than a simple finish today.
Prototypes
There are only two cars here in the LMPC class so although #49 has a 24 point lead (having taken pole today) over #48, with 25 points for a win it means that if #49 doesn’t finish and #48 does, #48 will be champions. That would be a very bitter pill for Gary Hirsch and Paul Loup Chatin to swallow.
LMP2 is a much more interesting proposition however and the intrigue only grew after qualifying because the two championship leaders remain tied on 73 points, Thiriet by TDS and Signatech Alpine qualifying in third and fourth respectively. Oliver Turvey took pole after a lap by lap slug-fest with Brendon Hartley through the second half of the 20 minute session. Turvey ‘s Zytek seemed to have the edge throughout, understood to be on the medium tyres although Hartley was able to raise the Murphy car’s game (despite being on the hard tyres) lap after lap. Ultimately Turvey bolstered his pole time even further with a 1:48.043 on the last lap to go a tenth quicker than Hartley’s best but Murphy were confident overall, especially as they were so much quicker than the other Orecas.
Jota’s deficit is now 16 points to the leaders, but in the driver’s championship Turvey and Dolan are now only two points behind Beche, so beating the TDS car (as a minimum goal) could move them to third place in the driver’s championship.
Beche and Panciatici traded places throughout the session but were around a second off what have been the quickest cars of the season overall. It is fair to say that Hartley and Turvey in particular have made qualifying something of an event in its own right, this being the third time the front row of the grid will feature these two cars.
Morand were only 0.04s back in fifth and Alex Kapadia put in a very committed effort to give Boutsen Ginion sixth place on the grid. To put that into context, less than a 4/10ths improvement would have put him third. 6/10ths further back were Race Performance, SMP Racing 1/10th further back.
PS
Start drivers (in start order)
- #38 Turvey
- #18 Hirschi
- #1 Beche
- #36 Ragues
- #43 Klien
- #4 Kuppens
- #34 Frey
- #37 Mediani
- #49 Chatin
- #48 Pons
- #52 Griffin
- #66 Camathias
- #55 Perrazini
- #53 Montecalvo
- #77 Ried
- #68 A Ladygin
- #69 K Ladygin
- #67 Vernay
- #75 Perrodo
- #86 Hiesse
- #72 Frolov
- #62 Gai
- #60 Pronk
- #54 Blank
- #79 Smith
- #85 Accary
