Cetilar Racing and AF Corse split the pole positions for the opening two Asian Le Mans Series races at Circuit Paul Ricard. In the championship debut for the Hypercar class – and the first ever Hypercar qualifying session to include FIA-Bronze rated drivers – Roberto Lacorte snatched pole for Race 1 in the No. 47 Ferrari 499P. Luis Perez Companc appeared to struggle early on in the No. 90 Ferrari, the other Hypercar in the field. The Argentinian finished the first qualifying session in third place overall but bounced back to take pole for Race 2, just ahead of Lacorte. Companc set the fastest lap across the two sessions with a 1:50.794, 0.611 seconds quicker than Lacorte’s best effort. United Autosports driver Giorgio Roda set the LMP2 class pace in Q1, placing his No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibson in second position overall and on LMP2 pole. The Italian backed this performance up with a second-place finish in class for Race 2. Roda sparred with Georgios Kolovos in the No. 11 Proton Competition entry across both sessions. The Proton driver finished just behind the No. 22 Oreca in Q1 and took class pole in Q2. Torsten Kratz claimed third in class in the first session and fourth in Q2 with his No. 43 Inter Europol Competition machine. Duqueine Team mirrored this result with driver Antti Rammo taking fourth in class in Q1 and third in Q2. Steve Jans will start on the GT3 class pole for Race 1 in the No. 9 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. The Luxembourgish driver delivered consistent laps across the two sessions, following up his pole with third on the grid in Race 2. The No. 26 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo snatched pole for Race 2 thanks to a rapid lap from Grey Newell. Dustin Blattner showed strong pace early on in the session in his debut with the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, qualifying second for Saturday’s race. Haupt Racing’s No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3 Evo took third for Race 1 ahead of Peter Dempsey in the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo. Dempsey was another consistent runner in qualifying, placing second for Race 2 in his first weekend in Ferrari machinery. All qualifying sessions ran largely uninterrupted, save for a red flag in the opening session of the afternoon to recover a stranded No. 88 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG. Neither the No. 62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx car, nor the No. 68 Car Blanche by RSL Aston Martin participated in qualifying after both cars tangled in Free Practice 2, bringing an early end to that session. The first race of the weekend is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. (10:15 a.m. ET) on Saturday ahead of Race 2 on Sunday. RESULTS: Qualifying 1/Qualifying 2
Liked by Daniel White, Carter King
Liked by Daniel White, Carter King
Liked by Daniel White, Carter King
