The no26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01-Gibson took the top spot in the red flag interrupted LMP2 qualifying session for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet.
Nyck De Vries claimed his first pole position of the 2021 European Le Mans Series with a 1m42.166 lap at the chequered flag.Championship leaders Orlen Team WRT finished in second spot, with Louis Deletraz setting a 1m42.323 just ahead of reigning champion Phil Hanson in the no22 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson.
The session had to be red flagged after 4.5 minutes when the no37 Cool Racing Oreca of Nicolas Lapierre stopped on track, near to the pitlane entry. Only half of the field had set a time at that point with the no22 United Autosports Oreca holding the top spot. Lapierre managed to get the car started and he recovered to the pits so the session could restart.
With the green flag waved, the session restarted with five minutes left on the clock and there was a mad dash to get back on track. De Vries went to the top spot with a 1m42.574 on his first attempt and then went even better by 0.408s as the chequered flag was shown to end the session.
The no37 Cool Racing Oreca managed to make it back out before the end of the session with Nicolas Lapierre finishing 4th and finish as the top Pro-Am entry.
LMP3: DKR Engineering Dominate Qualifying at Le Castellet
Reigning Michelin Le Mans Cup LMP3 Champion Laurents Hörr revelled in the conditions at Le Castellet to take the pole position in the LMP3 class for tomorrow’s 4 Hours of Le Castellet. The German posted the provisional pole at the very start of the session and bettered his own time three times to take the chequered flag in 1m48.440.
Laurents Hörr was then penalised for having crossed the white line at pit entry (Stewards decision n°4) causing the cancellation of his fastest lap. However, his second fastest lap of 1m48.543 keeps him on pole position.
There were several contenders for the second place on the grid, with Garett Grist snatching the position in the no20 Team Virage Ligier at the chequered flag with a 1m48.826 lap, pushing the no8 Graff Ligier of David Droux down to third by just 0.05s.
LMGTE: Aston Martin on Pole
Ross Gunn claimed the pole position in the LMGTE category taking the chequered flag with a 1m51.824 lap time in the no95 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage to demote the no93 Proton Competition Porsche of Richard Lietz.
The 10-minute session saw the no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni make the early running, the Italian posting a 1m52.299 lap before pitting for fresh rubber, just 0.005s ahead of Ross Gunn in the no95 Aston Martin.As Bruni pitted the no93 Porsche went to the top of the time sheets, with Lietz posting a 1m51.944.
Richard Lietz pitted with 2 minutes left on the clock while the rest of the field came back out on fresh rubber to try and get a better time. Bruni’s lap was deleted for track limits at T8 so it left Ross Gunn on a fast lap. The British driver crossed the line to take pole by 0.120s.
CLICK HERE for the result from Qualifying for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet
CLICK HERE for the press conference
