Bitterly cold temperatures with an ambient temperature of just 6 degrees greeted competitors in yesterday’s qualifying sessions for the 4 Hours of Fuji, round two of the Asian Le Mans Series.
In LMP2 the battle for pole position was fierce, and ultimately came down to one final flying lap.
The recently awarded, FIA World Endurance Championship Rookie, Thomas Laurent, led the way in the Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport Oreca 05 Nissan for most of the session. It was a sensational last-minute flying lap from Pipo Derani in the BBT Ligier JSP2 however that saw him claim pole position by just 0.16 from Laurent.
The pole position was BBT’s first LMP2 pole position.
In third place is LMP2 debutant, Jazeman Jaafar in the second Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport. Fourth is Marco Asmer, also making his debut in prototype racing in the Eurasia Motorsport Ligier.
In LMP3 it was another dominant performance for Australian driver Josh Burdon in the KCMG Ligier JSP3. He claimed pole position in the LMP3 class by 1 second from the Taiwan Beer GH Motorsport Ligier JSP3 driven by Ye Hong Li.
In third place, just 0.023 behind, is the reigning Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup champions, WIN Motorsport with Richard Bradley behind the wheel.
After qualifying however, WIN Motorsport were promoted into 2nd place after a pit infringement saw Taiwan Beer GH Motorsport have all their times cancelled.
In another closely fought session, it was a close fight for pole position in the GT class qualifying session.
As it was in the opening round in Zhuhai, it came down to a battle between the FIST Team AAI Ferrari and the BMWs.
This time it was the BMW leading the way. Behind the wheel, Jesse Krohn, in the car that he will share with Australian Supercars star Chaz Mostert, pitted with two minutes to go while holding the lead, leaving his team mate, Marco Cioci out on track to chase down his time. Cioci pushed hard but missed out, leaving Krohn’s time unbeaten and seeing the BMW M6 GT3 claim pole position.
Today’s race kicks off at midday Australian Eastern Daylight Time with several Aussies including Mostert, Burdon and Scott Andrews all taking part.
You can watch the action live right here via In Pit Lane.COM
