R-ace GP’s #85 Duqueine will start this afternoon’s Le Mans Cup race at Mugello from pole position after a late flyer from Fabien Michal.
The Frenchman left it late and came out of nowhere in the heavily interrupted LMP3 Qualifying session, setting the pole time with less than a minute to go in the session, a 1:42.826.
His lap was almost half a second up on Shahan Sarkissian, who briefly put the #2 CD Sport Ligier on provisional pole but fell to second.
“That was the most stressful qualifying of my life even though I wasn’t driving, as we had no lap time with less than five minutes to go!” Michal’s teammate Hadrien David said.
“But the race tonight will be another story, we have always been strong in Qualifying and struggled in the race.”
Bretton Racing meanwhile, ended up claiming both grid spots on the second row, with Jamie Falvey putting the #28 third and marginally faster than the sister #62. The T2 Racing Duquine took fifth.
There were two red flags in the P3 session. Audunn Gudmundsson was the first driver to bring the action to a halt. He got beached in the gravel in the #77 Team Thor Ligier just as the first flurry of competitive times began to come through.
Then when the action restarted, MV2S’s Terrance Woodward suffered an off at Turn 8 after hitting a bump at corner entry, losing the rear and spinning into the barriers. The clean-up required caused the second stoppage with just over four minutes on the clock.
British team Blackthorn scored its first Le Mans Cup pole in GT3. James Swift set a 1:48.288 mid-way through the session to put his #90 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO on top.
Championship leader Matthew Kurzejewski pushed hard to better Swift’s time in the closing minutes aboard the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, but he would have to settle for second. His best time came on his final effort, a 1:48.313, meaning he missed out by just two-hundredths of a second.
“The car’s really am friendly, you have the confidence to push. I was rusty after being out of the car for a few years, but now I understand it I feel good,” Swift, who made Aston Martin the fourth brand to score a pole this season, said. “I did my best lap and boxed, because it was as good as I could get.”
The second row will be occupied by the #88 AF Corse Ferrari and the #83 Iron Dames Lamborghini. Adding to Ferrari’s strong session, Kessel Racing’s #74 296 GT3 took fifth.
The race is set to get underway at 17:20 later today in Italy.
Images courtesy of Le Mans Cup
