Cetilar, AF Corse Ferrari Hypercars split pole positions for ALMS Paul Ricard season opener
The two Ferrari 499P Hypercars shared pole position honours between them in Qualifying for the Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) season opening Paul Ricard round, as Roda and Kolovos take one pole each in LMP2.
As it happened
Hypercar - LMP2
The first ALMS qualifying session featuring Hypercars, started off smoothly, as the Bronze drivers set off to compete for Hypercar and LMP2 pole positions respectively. Early on, the benchmarks were set by Roberto Lacorte in the No.47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 499P and Georgios Kolovos in the No.11 Proton Competition LMP2 Oreca.
Lacorte remained as such, comfortably taking pole position for race one with a 1:51.979, as the other 499P, the No.90 AF Corse one could only manage a time just over a second slower, with Luis Pérez Companc unable to close the gap.
His best time was in fact only enough for third overall fastest, thousands behind LMP2 pole sitter Giorgio Roda, who managed a spectacular effort in the No.22 United Autosports LMP2, with Kolovos just over two tenths behind, with his final attempt at pole halted by catching traffic in the final corners of the track.
In Q2, with the same drivers offered another chance at pole for race two, the Hypercar dynamics flipped, with Pérez Companc setting the initial benchmark, his Ferrari 499P seemingly a different and more drivable car. Meanwhile Kolovos again was fastest of all LMP2s early on, with Roda in second.
Things did not change throughout the rest of the session, especially in LMP2 were the top three runners parked their cars with a couple of minutes to go, having burned through what their tyres would give them. Kolovos thus took pole in the No.11 Proton LMP2, with Roda second and Antti Rammo third in the No.30 Duqueine.
In Hypercar Companc secured pole for race two, as Lacorte was the one unable to respond this time, with the Argentine setting a 1:50.794 in the No.90 AF Corse Ferrari, six tenths faster than his counterpart, meaning the two split the pole positions between them.
GT3
Qualifying for the GT3 class, which took place prior to the combined LMP2/Hypercar, started off slowly, as with only a couple of minutes elapsing, a red flag was necessitated, as a result of the No.88 Iron Lynx Mercedes coming to a halt, just after exiting the pits.
When the session resumed, each team's Bronze drivers were able to push their GT3 machinery to their maximum, with Max Moritz slightly overdoing it in the No.91 Manthey Porsche, spinning at the exit of turn one.
Near the end of the session there also was light contact between the No.50 AF Corse Ferrari of Peter Dempsey and the No.57 Carguy Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura. This prevented the GT World Challenge Bronze Sprint cup champion of making a final attempt at pole position, with Dempsey finishing Q1 in fourth.
Pole Position for the first race at Paul Ricard went to the No.9 GetSpeed Mercedes of Steve Jans, with an effort of 2:02.879 enough to overcome Dustin Blattner in the No.58 Garage 59 McLaren, with Hubert Haupt third in the No.65 Ford, run by his eponymous team.
Q2 was more of a straight-forward affair, with no red flags or any major incidents aside from a spin for the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari towards the end, with times falling to the 2:01's as more and more rubber was laid down.
After 15 minutes, the Gray Newell had claimed pole for race two, with a 2:01.257 in the No.26 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, storming the field, with second placed Dempsey only able to set a time half a second slower. Race one pole sitter Jans managed third.
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