Charles Milesi scored pole position for Panis Racing ahead of tomorrow’s ELMS season finale at Portimao. In the #65 ORECA 07-Gibson, he took the top spot with a 1:30.727, stealing the honours and the potentially vital championship point for himself and his teammates Arthur Leclerc and Manuel Maldonado.
The time was set on Milesi’s fifth lap as the rest of the field began to consider conserving rubber. Risk management for a limited four sets of race tyres was a key consideration, no matter how important the extra pole point might be in the final analysis.
“The car is very good now, the team has done a great job to improve it and get it into the best position for the race,” he said. “One point is useful, and one less for us to get in the race but we still need a good result to challenge for the title.
“Pole position is definitely good here as it helps you get through the first corner ahead of traffic. It’s tricky to overtake so leading into Turn 1 is definitely going to help our race strategy.”
Malthe Jakobsen’s early 1:31.139 would improve to a 1:31.109 to make up the front row of the grid in the #37 Cool Racing O7, as Will Stevens made a late charge in the #27 Nielsen Racing ORECA to spoil the party for United Autosports’ #22 and the #28 IDEC Sport entries, his 1:31.174 overhauling Ben Hanley’s and Job Van Uitert’s times after the pair traded blows for the second row.
Alex Lynn’s 1:31.206 would further depose the pair, the Cadillac factory driver taking fourth in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing car.
Tucked in behind, Louis Deletraz’s best lap put the championship-leading #14 AO by TF ORECA seventh, a 1:31.471 with traffic ahead to consider in its defence of its championship advantage. One second covers the whole LMP2 grid.
In LMP2 Pro/Am a four-way exchange in the Bronze-only session ended as it began with the #77 Proton Competition ORECA 07-Gibson of Giorgio Roda, Rene Binder and Bent Viscaal securing class pole for tomorrow’s race.
Roda’s early advantage had to be defended hard against the #29 Richard Mille by TDS car of Rodrigo Sales and the championship-leading #83 AF Corse of Francois Perrodo, but the Italian’s 1:32.919 set on the #77 Proton Competition car’s sixth lap was enough to stave off the challenge.
“I’m really happy, the competition is really high, there’s a point for the pole and that helps us in this tight championship contest,” Roda said after scoring his fifth pole of the season. “It was a good lap.”
The #29 Richard Mille by TDS ORECA’s best time from Rodrigo Sales put the car 0.6 seconds off pole, with a 1:33.537. The #83 AF Corse’s 1:33.717 ended up just ahead of John Falb’s 1:33.919 in the #24 Nielsen Racing car, making up row two. Falb’s time was consistent with the improvement found in the car by teammates Colin Noble and Nick Yelloly during practice.
LMP3 saw Manuel Espirito Santo make an improvement to 1:37.498 to secure pole for the #17 Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan.
A second covered the top six in class. “I’m super happy to be getting back-to-back poles, especially here at my home race” said Miguel Cristovao as his teammate delivered the result.
Second place went to Wyatt Brichacek in the #4 DKR Engineering entry, which ended up first of the two Duqueine cars. 1:38.104 would hold off Oscar Tunjo’s best lap for WTM by Rinaldi Racing, the #12 Duqueine just under two-hundredths shy with a 1:38.195. Pedro Perino qualified fourth in the #88 Inter Europol Ligier; 1:38.325.
In LMGT3, with nine out of the 11 class entries in contention for the championship, every point is valuable.
Sarah Bovy set purple sectors from the start in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 and would nab pole. The Bronze driver’s 1:42.408 set on Lap 3 was a whole second quicker than anyone else, it was a challenge laid down that proved unassailable.
“It’s our fourth pole of the year,” an elated Bovy said. “I always love this rollercoaster and for me to get another pole is really important.
“We want to make sure we can finally deliver a result here. Traffic will be difficult, particularly with the elevation. But it’s not our first time here and we will put all our effort into staying clean.”
Formula Racing’s Johnny Laursen traded second with the Aston Martins of Derek De Boer and Martin Berry, exchanging 1:43’s before the #97 Grid Motorsport by TF kept the advantage for third, 1:43.411.
Duncan Cameron’s Spirit of Race Ferrari showed its nose in the fight but dropped down to fifth with a 1:43.850, the #55 Ferrari’s fourth place having been stolen by Hiroshi Hamaguchi’s Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan, who reeled off a 1:43.810 in the dying seconds.
Tomorrow’s 4 Hours of Portimao is set to get underway at 14:30 local.
