23Events Racing has scored a clean sweep of pole positions for the first-ever round of the Asian Le Mans Cup, with the #50 Ligier JS P325 – Toyota of Giovanni Maschio and Colin Queen sweeping the pair of 20-minute qualifying sessions at Circuit Paul Ricard this afternoon.
In Qualifying 1, Maschio set a 1:58.402 inside the final five minutes of the session to overhaul a potential GMS Team front row lockout. The German outfit will instead start Race 1 from second and third on the grid, with the #75 Duqueine D09 – Toyota of Oscar Tunjo heading Danny Soufi’s #11 Ligier.
Emily Cotty qualified fourth in the #26 Bretton Racing Ligier, with the #85 R-ace GP Duqueine of Kyuho Lee completing the top five.
In LMP3, Laurent Wuthwich bested teammate Terrence Woodward as CLX Motorsport qualified 1-2. Wuthwich set a best time of 2:00.676 in the #86 Ligier, finishing 1.292 seconds clear of Woodward’s #87 machine.
And in GT3, Herberth Motorsport’s Ralf Bohn claimed a comfortable pole position aboard the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo. The German was three seconds faster than the sister #73 Porsche of Jörg Dresiow.
Elsewhere, the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo failed to participate in Qualifying 1, and as such will start tomorrow’s season opener from the rear of the 18-car field.
Queen then matched his teammates effort in Qualifying 2, having taken over the #50 Ligier. Teams adopted varying strategies in LMP3 Pro, with half the field retaining the same driver it ran in Q1, whilst the other half swapped pilot between sessions.
Soufi appeared to be on track for pole position until the closing moments, courtesy of a 1:58.222, before Queen improved as the chequered flag was waving to claim the top spot by 0.056 seconds.
Lee was third in the #85 Duqueine, despite having to pit mid-session following contact on his out lap with the #90 E2P Racing Aston Martin of Pablo Burguera.
Joao Vergara was fourth in the #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier, ahead of Pipo Massa’s #19 23Events Racing Ligier.
The LMP3 result was identical to Q1, with Wuthrich leading Woodward in a CLX Motorsport front row lockout. Wuthwich set a 2:00.682 in Q2, beating his teammate by 0.228 seconds.
And in GT3, the #10 Aston Martin was able to join the running, with Sebastian Moreno repaying his team’s work by delivering pole position. Moreno set a 2:04.713, besting Bohn by 0.116 seconds.
The inaugural Asian Le Mans Cup race will take place at 9:15 CEST tomorrow.
Image courtesy of Asian Le Mans Series
