Giorgio Roda continued his run of dominant qualifying performances in the Asian Le Mans Series today at Yas Marina, securing pole position for both 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi races this weekend.
“I’m happy, the car is mega. We had to manage the gap, push and didn’t get any traffic. The car is always quick then something happens,” Roda said.
His best time after improvements throughout the session was a blistering 1:41.392, to put eight-tenths up on the rest of the field. His second best, securing pole for tomorrow’s four hours, was a 1:41.524.
His efforts today mean he and the #22 Proton Competition crew will have started from pole in every race this season. The question is, can the team convert pole into victory this weekend after a heartbreaking end to the second race in Dubai last time out?
Jeremy Clarke was also fast in LMP Qualifying, putting the #50 AF Corse ORECA second and on the front row for both races with 1:42.263 and 1:42.659 tours of the circuit.
Alexander Mattschull’s late flyer ensured the #11 Proton ORECA will start third in both races, while Michael Jensen put the #25 APR example fourth today and tomorrow.
Further down the order in LMP2, it was a tough outing for the Pure Rxcing ORECA, which caused a red flag in the LMP session. It will start at the back of the field after Alex Malykhin stopped in the pit-out tunnel after a spin and played no further part in the running.
In LMP3, High Class Racing claimed pole position for both races, courtesy of a fine performance from Thomas Kiefer. His best lap was a 1:49.315 in the Danish team’s #49 Ligier.
The #7 GRAFF Ligier of Alexander Bukhantsov took second for both races.
It was a quiet outing for the championship-leading Ultimate JS P320, which will start fifth today after Louis Stern’s best time of 1:51.389.
Winward Racing’s points-leading #81 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Rinat Salikhov claimed pole position for today’s 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi in the GT ranks. He set a 1:54.668 in the heavily-interuppted GT session which was called early after three red flags.
“It was really unpredictable. A big mess. Luck decided everything,” Salikhov said.
Alongside the Winward Mercedes on the front row will be the #92 Manthey EMA Porsche of Ryan Hardwick who set a 1:54.749.
That put the 1st Phorm-liveried Porsche less than a tenth up on the #89 EBM Aston Martin which ended up third. The #2 Climax Mercedes took fourth, ahead of the #77 Optimum McLaren that slotted in fifth.
The red flags made for a jumbled order for the season finale on Sunday, as many drivers failed to set a red hot second time.
Pole for Race 2 went to Bihuang Zhou in the #2 Climax AMG, whose second-best time was a 1:55.794. Morgan Tillbrook put the #77 Optimum GT3 Evo second with a 1:56.104.
The top five was completed by the EBM Aston Martin of Gabriel Rindone, #57 Car Guy Ferrari and #92 AF Corse Ferrari.
The first red flag came with just over six minutes left on the clock. Rene Herman Malmezac lost the rear end of his #42 Prime Speed Sport Lamborghini while exiting the final turn.
He ended up stranded in the middle of the track after braking hard to avoid the wall. Thankfully no damage was done but the session needed to stop to recover the car.
The session went green only briefly before race control intervened again, this time for debris on track as the cars were heading out to set their final flying laps. Replays showed that contact between the front of the #87 Origine Porsche and the rear of the #27 Optimum McLaren was the culprit.
The third stoppage, with less than two minutes to go, was caused by the Origine Porsche and #98 EBM Aston. Both cars spun off at the same corner while trying to jostle for track position ahead of their final flying laps.
There was one car missing from the GT session, the #14 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. The team has withdrawn from the meeting, quoting “driver safety”.
The team’s Bronze, Lu Wei, is not well, so the team and its other two drivers – Lucas Auer and Kang Ling – will take no further part in the season. The GT field is therefore down to 29 cars.
Race 1 is set to start later today at 15:00 local time in the UAE.
Images courtesy of Asian Le Mans Series
