Jean-Eric Vergne scored the first European Le Mans Series pole position for the no26 G-Drive Racing, edging the team one point closer to claiming the 2018 ELMS title.
The winner of the last three ELMS races in Monza, Red Bull Ring and Silverstone held pole position for most of the 12-minute session but in the last-minute Filipe Albuquerque took the provisional pole posting a 2m00.912 lap as he took the chequered flag in the no22 United Autosports Ligier-Gibson. Vergne responded a few seconds later when the reigning FIA Formula E champion took the chequered flag in a 2m00.735, 0.177 faster than his Portuguese rival.
The final lap were unaffected by a waved yellow at Raidillon when the engine cover of Matt McMurry’s no25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier flew off, scattering debris across the track.
The extra point for pole position puts the no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca and drivers Roman Rusinov and Andrea Pizzitola 35 points ahead of the no24 Racing Engineering Oreca.
Ultimate Take LMP3 Pole for third time in 2018
Mathieu Lahaye scored another pole for the French Ultimate team with a 2m13.699 lap in the Norma M30-Nissan on the 7km Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Lahaye’s time was just 0.065 seconds ahead of the no11 Eurointernational Ligier of Italian Mattia Drudi, giving the Monza race winning team a front row start for tomorrow’s 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Championship leaders DKR Engineering will start tomorrow’s race in 5th place after Job Van Uitert posted a 2m14.062lap, four tenths behind the pole car and three places behind their nearest championship rivals in the no11 Eurointernational Ligier.
Proton Competition Edge Closer to 2018 LMGTE Title
Matteo Cairoli gave the championship leading no88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR another point to extend their lead to ten points over the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari F488 ahead of tomorrow’s 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
The Italian was seventh tenths ahead of the rest of the LMGTE field with Porsche filling the top three places on the grid. Cairoli’s time of 2m15.654 was good enough to claim teh second pole of the season for the Italian, who finished ahead of the no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Dennis Olsen with a 2m16.654 lap and the no80 Ebimotors 911 of Riccardo Pera in third. The race winning no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari F488 of Miguel Molina was the first of the trio of Ferraris in fourth place 2.1 seconds behind the pole sitting Porsche.
The race start has been moved forward to try and beat the forecast heavy rain and storms for the afternoon. The race coverage will now start at 7:00PM AEST
Source: ELMS Media
