Matteo Cairoli claimed Iron Lynx Proton’s first-ever overall ELMS pole at Mugello this afternoon, the Italian Lamhorghini factory driver setting a rapid 1:32.829 on home soil to beat Charles Milesi to the top spot for tomorrow’s four-hour race.
Alex Lynn was also in the fight for pole, getting within three-tenths of Cairoli with a 1:33.054 in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA. He would end up third, slower than the Panis Racing ORECA that took a front row spot, but two-tenths up on Oliver Gray who put the #34 Inter Europol Competition example fourth.
The #28 IDEC Sport ORECA finished up fifth, ahead of the championship-leading AO by TF ORECA which lapped within half a second of pole after Louis Deletraz’s efforts in the red-flag delayed session.
While he didn’t nab a point for pole with his performance, Deletraz did put the American-flagged team in front of the #43 Inter Europol ORECA, which sits second in the title race and ended up ninth.
The red flag in the session was caused by Vector Sport’s Patrick Pilet. The Frenchman, who qualified 11th, found himself stranded after a spin, setting up a two-minute dash for improvements when the session restarted.
Giorgio Roda starred once again in LMP2 Pro/Am, as the only driver to set a sub-1:35 lap en route to his fourth pole of the season for Proton Competition.
His lap came with six minutes remaining and would go unchallenged by Rodrigo Sales and John Falb who traded fast times early in the running.
Sales would end up second in the Richard Mille by TDS ORECA, ahead of Falb in Nielsen Racing’s #24 07. Sales’ best time was within fourth-tenths off Roda, while Falb’s 1:36.861 was a whole second off pole.
Georgios Kolovos would take fourth in his debut Qualifying run for Team Virage.
Further down the order, it was a tough session for championship leader Francois Perrodo, who could only muster sixth on the grid for AF Corse. His best time was set before a big off into the gravel with four and a half minutes remaining that ended his chances of a late improvement.
COOL Racing’s #17 Ligier JS P320 will lead the LMP3 field across the line tomorrow after a dominant performance from Manuel Espírito Santo. The Portuguese racer set a 1:41.083 with seven minutes left to score his first pole since the opener in Barcelona and go almost eight-tenths clear.
“I’m super grateful for the team, they’ve had to rebuild the car twice this week, on Thursday and earlier today. So it’s a fantastic result,” Espirito Santo said.
A number of drivers improved late in the session, but nobody could match or better his time. Wyatt Brichacek from DKR Engineering came closest in the #4 Duqueine with a 1:41.545 to qualify second and prevent a Ligier front-row lockout.
Inter Europol Competition’s Kai Askey took third, while Antonio Doquin for Racing Spirit of Leman vaulted up the order from ninth to fourth with a last-gasp effort.
Notably, Doquin’s hot lap dropped the championship-leading Eurointernational Ligier to ninth. It looks set to be a challenging afternoon for the Italian-flagged team’s Ligier tomorrow.
Racing Spirit of Leman took pole position in LMGT3 after a flurry of fast times late in the session saw multiple drivers take turns at the top of the timing screens.
First was Martin Berry for Grid Motorsport by TF, before Sarah Bovy briefly put Iron Dames on provisional pole. But it would be the Swiss Aston customer team that would take the honours after a strong effort from Derek Deboer in the #59 Vantage AMR LMGT3.
Crucially, American, who along with Casper Stevenson and Valentin Haase Clot leads the championship, has added another point to their season tally by scoring pole. It puts them two points clear at the top of the table.
“I have to say Derek did the best lap I’ve seen from him in two years, he needed to put everything together and he did,” Haase Clot said.
Alongside Racing Spirit of Leman on the front row will be the #85 Iron Dames Porsche. Bovy, who is looking to bounce back from a torrid race at Spa tomorrow, came achingly close but even a late improvement to 1:48.015 wasn’t quite enough.
Grid Motorsport by TF’s Aston Martin ended up falling to third, qualifying ahead of the first of the Ferraris – the #50 from Formula Racing, which completed Row 2. The #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini will start fifth.
Tomorrow’s race is set to get underway at 11:30 local time tomorrow.
Images courtesy of ELMS
