Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar driver Jose Maria Lopez scored his first LMP2 pole position this afternoon, with a blistering 1:44.253 in LMP2 Qualifying at Paul Ricard aboard the #47 COOL Racing ORECA ahead of tomorrow’s 4 Hours of Le Castellet.
Lopez’s lap, which saw him set purple first and third sectors, was two-tenths up on IDEC Sport’s Paul Loup Chatin and came in the final minute of what was a gripping LMP2 session.
Chatin, Lopez and Job Van Uitert traded fast times in the closing moments, before Lopez emerged as the fastest of the trio. Chatin would take second, while Van Uitert was forced to settle for third in his Panis Racing ORECA with a 1:44.600.
“I am really happy,” said Lopez, who is still fresh from winning last weekend’s FIA WEC 6 Hours of Monza. “COOL Racing has done a good job here.
“I am still learning as this is quite different to a Hypercar. But it’s good, and it was nice to be in for Qualifying as we have Kamui (Kobayashi) in the #7 (Toyota, which Lopez drives in the FIA WEC). It’s great to give everything. I did a few laps before I fully attacked. It was important not to overheat the tyres.”
Joining the Dutchman on the second row for tomorrow’s race will be the #43 Inter Europol ORECA, after Olli Caldwell’s efforts.
The LMP2 session was the only one that featured an incident. Oliver Jarvis stopped at Turn 11 in the #22 United ORECA before setting a competitive time. He briefly got going again, but stopped a second time at pit-in, bringing out red flags. It made for a condensed finale.
Prior to the LMP2 session, 4H Barcelona winner Racing Team Turkey took pole in LMP2 Pro/Am, after Salih Yoluc dominated the proceedings in the dedicated session for the Pro/Am teams. The Turk lapped just over eight-tenths faster than everyone else and was the only driver to set a time under 1:47.
His best time was set six minutes into the session, a 1:46.178, which proved untouchable. This was his second consecutive Pro/A, pole to start the season.
The #99 Proton ORECA came closest to the Team Turkey ORECA, with a 1:47.008 from Giorgio Roda. Rodrigo Sales put the #24 Nielsen Racing O7 Gibson into the top three with a late improvement, a 1:47.208.
“It was a nice session. I am happy with the pole position. That was as fast as I could go, and we wanted to save the tyres for the race so we didn’t risk it,” said Yoluc, who pitted the RTT ORECA with a couple of minutes to go, confident his effort was enough for pole.
LMP3’s session turned into a three-way battle for pole between Eurointernational, Nielsen Racing and WTM by Rinaldi Racing, with the three drivers in question trading blows throughout the 15 minutes of track time.
In the end, it was Oscar Tunjo in the #12 WTM by Rinaldi Duqiene that snatched his first ELMS pole with a 1:51.267. Tunjo was baulked on his penultimate tour but was able to put it all together on his final lap and deny Glenn Van Berlo the top spot.
“Oscar did an incredible job, he was fast in his penultimate lap, but had traffic and put it together in his final lap. He has put us in a good position for tomorrow,” Tunjo’s teammate Torstan Kratz said after the session.
Tunjo’s hot lap meant Van Berlo in the #10 Eurointernational dropped to second. Nielsen Racing’s Ryan Harper-Ellan, after a sterling effort with multiple improvements, would finish up third. The top three finished with times within a hundredth of a second. Remarkably, the pole margin was just 59 thousandths.
Inter Europol’s #13 Ligier will start fourth ahead of the #8 Team Virage Ligier that ended up fifth.
The first session of the afternoon saw the GTE runners head out to set times. Christian Ried ran fastest in the #77 Proton Competition Porsche, with a 1:56.260 with five minutes of the 15-minute session to run, scoring his first pole position of the season.
“It was a great qualifying for the team,” said Ried. “I’m sure everyone is struggling here with tyres because of the track temps (which have been high this weekend). The competition is amazing here, and it’s so much fun.”
It was a strong outing for Duncan Cameron in the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari. The Briton ended up setting a 1:56.407 to put himself, Matt Griffin and David Perel on the front row in the class alongside the #77.
Michael Fassbender was impressive too, with a 1:56.482 in the #93 Proton 911 to go third.
Taking fourth, in what was a relatively subdued session that failed to reach a crescendo, was the #50 Formula Racing Ferrari driven by Johnny Laursen. Arnold Robin was the fastest Aston Martin Driver, slotting in fifth for Racing Spirit of Leman.
While it wasn’t a shootout that kept everyone guessing until the end, it was tight in GTE, with the top seven cars setting times within four-tenths.
Tomorrow’s 4 Hours of Le Castellet is set to get underway at 11:30 tomorrow local time.
