McNish claims pole position for 1000Km of Silverstone

Silverstone - Qualifying

By Franck Drui

11 September 2010 - 18:25
McNish claims pole position for (...)

Audi Sport Team Joest driver, Allan McNish, will start tomorrow’s 1000Km of Silverstone from pole position after a dominating performance in qualifying today.

After claiming the top spot in his Audi R15 TDI, McNish said: “It’s good to be in the fight for pole position. We always know we’ll be there in the race but we went into qualifying not really knowing what we could do and what Peugeot could do because the practice sessions were so unpredictable in terms of weather.

“It was raining at Stowe but dry on the start/finish straight. I wasn’t convinced we could win pole. But we’ve come here to win, not to have fun, whether you see it as the last race of the Le Mans Series or the first race of the ILMC.”

The final race of the 2010 Le Mans Series will start at 11.55am tomorrow (Sunday Sept 12).

AUDI ON TOP OF THE WORLD

Several drivers and teams came head-to-head in four classes in Le Mans Series title decider at Silverstone, but also first round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, and it is still impossible to predict who will triumph, even if today’s sunny qualifying session gave the polesitters a leg up.

Audi Sport Team Joest’s Allan McNish retained the honor of setting the fastest lap time of the Autosport 1,000Km of Silverstone qualifying session, despite some strong competition from Timo Bernhard in the sister car.

Saturday was a day of surprises in Great-Britain - no Peugeot prototype on the front row, no genuine threat to polesitters Audis, and JMW Motorsport eclipsing the Porsches and the Ferraris in the LMGT2 class. Who are the genuine contenders for victory on Sunday afternoon? May the best teams and drivers win!

MC NISH AND WATTS AT HOME

The Audi R15 TDI has topped most of the time-sheets since the beginning of the weekend. Both Audis have been head and shoulders above both Peugeots in qualifying. The German car-manufacturer is shaping up to add another Le Mans Series overall win to his already impressive racing portfolio after a solid qualifying session.

If the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP has not been the fastest car on the track today, Team Peugeot Total and Team ORECA Matmut took the second row spots on the qualifying list. The German team now has the psychological advantage over Peugeot, and the duel looks very promising for a gripping race tomorrow.

After their impressive class win at the Le Mans 24 hour race and their tremendous overall win in Hungary three weeks ago, Danny Watts, Nick Leventis and Jonny Kane travelled to the Autosport 1,000Km of Silverstone with great optimism. The British team and winners of two races this year are eager to continue their success streak with the HPD prototype. Danny Watts dug deep into the talent and brought out a stunning performance as he claimed his fifth pole of the year in the Series despite crashing the car in the third practice session this morning.

The reigning champion Quifel-ASM Team will also start the race from the LMP2 front row as Olivier Pla qualified the Ginetta-Zytek second in class. The qualifying effort was the culmination of a strong performance for the Portuguese team this week, as co-drivers Olivier Pla and Miguel Amaral led the class through the second practice session on Friday. Another Ginetta-Zytek will start from third place, courtesy of Team Bruichladdich’s Thor-Christian Ebbesvik, who has been a revelation this season and has a great chance to score a strong result.

THE BRITISH DRIVERS LIKE THEIR HOME TRACK

Hope PoleVision Racing’s chances of winning the title are still intact while Dams’ drivers will try to keep the lead after their victory in Hungary and clinch the title in Formula Le Mans class. The Swiss team’s Charlie Hollings and Steve Zacchia secured the front row ahead of… DAMS’ Warren Hughes. Unlike the LMGT1 class, the battle is not over yet!
Indeed, Larbre Compétition already clinched the title last month in Hungary and the Saleen is the only car on the entry list. For the French team, tomorrow’s race will have a taste of a test session and whatever the result of the race, the team will have both Drivers and Teams’ titles to celebrate.

In a thrilling qualifying session, Rob Bell led the LMGT2 class this afternoon after putting the JMW Motorsport #92 Aston Martin on pole. It is only half of a surprise because the car has been very fast through the last two practice sessions.

In an incredibly tightly fought session, with the top six cars all within five tenths of a second of each other, Toni Vilander did a great job to place the #95 AF Corse Ferrari car in second place on the LMGT2 grid for tomorrow’s race. His time was less than two hundredths of a second ahead of the current class leader, Marc Lieb and the #77 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche.

PosNumCatTeamDriversCarTime
1 7 LMP1 Audi Sport Team Joest KRISTENSEN/McNISH Audi R15 TDI 1.43.475
2 8 LMP1 Audi Sport Team Joest BERNHARD/CAPELLO Audi R15 TDI 1.44.012
3 1 LMP1 Team Peugeot Total DAVIDSON/MINASSIAN Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 1.44.489
4 4 LMP1 Team Oreca Matmut SARRAZIN/LAPIERRE Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP 1.44.510
5 13 LMP1 Rebellion Racing BELICCHI/BOULLION Lola B10/60 Coupe - Rebellion 1.45.731
6 009 LMP1 Aston Martin Racing BARAZI/HANCOCK/MUCKE Lola - Aston Martin 1.45.911
7 11 LMP1 Drayson Racing DRAYSON/COCKER Lola B10/60 Coupe - Judd 1.46.259
8 12 LMP1 Rebellion Racing JANI/PROST Lola B10/60 Coupe - Rebellion 1.46.451
9 008 LMP1 Signature Plus RAGUES/MAILLEUX/ICKX Lola - Aston Martin 1.46.482
10 42 LMP2 Strakka Racing LEVENTIS/WATTS/KANE HPD ARX-01c 1.46.961
11 5 LMP1 Beechdean Mansell G. MANSELL/L. MANSELL Ginetta-Zytek 09S 1.47.421
12 20 LMP1 Team LNT BURGESS/MOWLEM/McMURRY Ginetta-Zytek 09S 1.48.509
13 40 LMP2 Quifel - Asm Team AMARAL/PLA Ginetta-Zytek 09S 1.49.538
14 41 LMP2 Team Bruichladdich OJJEH/GREAVES/EBBESVIK Ginetta-Zytek 09S 1.50.374
15 25 LMP2 RML ERDOS/NEWTON/COLLINS Lola HPD Coupe 1.51.221
16 24 LMP2 OAK Racing LAHAYE/NICOLET Pescarolo-Judd 1.51.625
17 30 LMP2 Racing Box BABINI/CASE/LEO Lola B09 Coupé - Judd 1.52.792
18 29 LMP2 Racing Box PERAZZINI/CIOCI/PIRRI Lola B09 Coupé - Judd 1.53.365
19 39 LMP2 KSM De POURTALES/ORDONEZ/KENNARD Lola B08/47 - Judd 1.53.410
20 31 LMP2 RLR msport GATES/GAROFALL/PHILLIPS MG Lola EX265 - AER 1.54.013
21 36 LMP2 Pegasus Racing SCHELL/Da ROCHA Courage - Oreca LC75 1.55.674
22 27 LMP2 Race Performance FREY/ROSTAN/BRUNEAU Radical SR9 - Judd 1.56.596
23 48 LMP2 Hope Polevision Racing PILLON/HOLLINGS/VERDONCK Formula Le Mans - Oreca 1.56.968
24 47 LMP2 Hope Polevision Racing ZACCHIA/LOMBARD/MORO Formula Le Mans - Oreca 1.57.057
25 44 LMP2 DAMS FIRTH/HUGHES Formula Le Mans - Oreca 1.57.312
26 45 LMP2 Boutsen Energy Racing KRAIHAMER/de CREM/DELHEZ Formula Le Mans - Oreca 1.57.850
27 43 LMP2 DAMS BARLESI/CICOGNANI/CHALANDON Formula Le Mans - Oreca 1.59.443
28 50 LMGT1 Larbre Competition GARDEL/GOUESLARD/REES Saleen S7-R 2.02.640
29 92 LMGT2 JMW Motorsport BELL/TURNER Aston Martin V8 Vantage 2.03.340
30 95 LMGT2 AF Corse ALESI/FISICHELLA/VILANDER Ferrari F430 GT 2.03.499
31 77 LMGT2 Team Felbermayr Proton LIEB/LIETZ Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2.03.643
32 96 LMGT2 AF Corse BRUNI/MELO Ferrari F430 GT 2.03.728
33 75 LMGT2 Prospeed Competition HOLZER/WESTBROOK Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2.03.759
34 89 LMGT2 Hankook Team Farnbacher FARNBACHER/SIMONSEN Ferrari F430 GT 2.03.840
35 88 LMGT2 Team Felbermayr Proton RAGGINGER/RIED/DUMAS Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2.03.862
36 85 LMGT2 Spyker Squadron DUMBRECK/CORONEL Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R 2.03.877
37 94 LMGT2 AF Corse PEREZ COMPANC/RUSSO Ferrari F430 GT 2.04.027
38 78 LMGT2 BMW Team Schnitzer MULLER/WERNER BMW M3 2.04.475
39 76 LMGT2 Imsa Performance Matmut NARAC/PILET Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2.04.595
40 91 LMGT2 CRS Racing KIRKALDY/MULLEN Ferrari F430 GT 2.04.818
41 46 LMP2 JMB Racing KUTEMANN/BASSO/HARTSHORNE Formula Le Mans - Oreca 2.05.402
42 90 LMGT2 CRS Racing EHRET/QUAIFE/KAFFER Ferrari F430 GT 2.05.481
43 99 LMGT2 Gulf Team First GIROIX/GOETHE Lamborghini LP560 2.08.916
44 007 LMP1 Aston Martin Racing FERNANDEZ/PRIMAT/MEYRICK Lola - Aston Martin -.—.---
45 35 LMP2 OAK Racing MOREAU/HEIN Pescarolo - Judd DNS

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