Qualifying 1
Qualifying for the first 55-minute race for the Road To Le Mans weekend saw the silver and gold rated drivers take to the track and it was double RTLM winner Laurents Hörr who claimed the top spot on this afternoon’s grid for DKR Engineering.
The #3 Duqueine posted a 3m45.883 lap to lay claim to the pole position just before a Slow Zone was declared at MP6 after the #9 AT Racing Ligier went off track. The Slow Zone lasted until there was just 1 minute 30 seconds of the 20-minute session left.
Once the Slow Zone was removed the drivers had a mad dash to get to the line to start their flying lap before the chequered flag was displayed. Laurents Hörr had a 0.063s advantage over the #69 Cool Racing Ligier of Malthe Jakobsen and he was determined to extend this gap if possible. He posted a purple time in the first sector and then a personal best in the second to finish the lap in 3m45.606, three tenths ahead of the #69 Ligier as Jakobsen was unable to improve his time despite setting the best overall time in sector 2.
The #10 Racing Spirit of Leman will head the second row on the grid, with Tom Dillmann setting a 3m46.236 lap, 0.6 seconds ahead of Nicolas Schatz in the #6 ANS Motorsport Ligier.
Row 3 is an all United Autosports affair with the #23 Ligier of Wayne Boyd ahead of teammate Garnet Patterson in the #22 Ligier JS P320.
Valentin Haase-Clot claimed the GT3 pole by nearly 1.6 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
The #99 Bullitt Racing Aston Martin continued where it left off in Free Practice, with Valentin Haase-Clot claiming the GT3 pole by nearly 1.6 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
The #34 Team WRT Audi R8 of Maxime Robin was second fastest, the French driver finishing the session on a 3m57.135, 0.7 seconds ahead of the #52 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 of Cedric Sbirrazzuoli.
The #55 GMB Motorsport Honda NSX of Kasper Jensen will join Sbirrazzuoli on row 2, with former MLMC Champion Fabio Babini in 5th in the 46 Ebimotors Porsche 911, meaning there are five different manufacturers filling the top 5 slots on the GT3 grid.
The first Road To Le Mans is due to get underway at 18h30 this afternoon.
Qualifying 2
The bronze driver only qualifying session for the second Road To Le Mans race on Saturday saw the #11 WTM Racing Duqueine claimed pole position with Torsten Kratz setting his fastest lap at the chequered flag.
The 20-minute session was interrupted by two Slow Zones and then a Red Flag after 10-minutes due to separate incidents around the circuit where cars had gone off into the gravel or the tyre barriers. The drivers involved were all OK and the marshals cleared the track for the session to resume after only 10 minutes.
Torsten Kratz, who had been holding provisional pole position before the red flag with a 3m50.368s lap was soon back up to speed and setting purple sector times to improve his time to 3m48.479 at the chequered flag. Fellow German Alexander Mattschull in the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier will join Kratz on the front row, with Mattschull improving his time to 3m50.552 to end the session 2.073s behind the lead car.
Former Road To Le Mans race winner Michael Benham will head Row 2 in the #25 Cool Racing Ligier with a 3m52.283 lap, 0.185s ahead of Jacques Wolff in the #43 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier.
Two British drivers claimed Row 3, with Freddie Hunt in the #76 Reiter Engineering Ligier 0.6 seconds ahead of John Melsom in the #4 Nielsen Racing Duqueine.
Team WRT claimed the pole position in GT3 for Road to Le Mans Race 2 with Arnold Robin finishing one second ahead of the #55 GMB Motorsport Honda NSX of former 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGTE Am winner Kristian Poulsen. Robin posted a 3m58.827 lap compared to the 3m59.836 from the Danish driver.
Third fastest was the #44 GMB Motorsport Honda of Jens Moller, nearly 2 seconds ahead of the #46 Ebimotors Porsche 911 of Emanuele Busnelli, the Italian fourth quickest with a 4m02.600.
The #99 Bullitt Racing Aston Martin, which will start on pole for the first race, could only manage 8th fastest in the hands of Stephen Pattrick in the red flag interrupted session.
The second Road To Le Mans is due to get underway at 11h20 on Saturday morning ahead of the 90th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
