McNish claims pole position for 1000Km of Silverstone
Silverstone - Qualifying
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.
Pos | Num | Cat | Team | Drivers | Car | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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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