Porsche, G-Drive and Aston Martin shine in Qualifying for 6 Hours of Silverstone

Track Action (photo by Melissa Warren)The no17 Porsche of Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley took pole position and underlined their pre-season testing pace when the 1m39.721 average lap time was three second faster than the 2014 pole time.

The no18 919 of Neel Jani and Romain Dumas completed a Porsche front row lockout for Sunday’s 6 Hours of Silverstone, pushing the no8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Lucas Di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis onto the second row by just 0.012 seconds. Reigning world champions Toyota will start 4th and 6th with the no1 TS040 of Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima just 0.030 seconds behind the no8 Audi and 0.661 behind the leading Porsche.

In LMP2 G-Drive Racing also scored a 1-2 in qualifying for Sunday’s race, a great achievement for the Russian team who are running two cars for the first time in the World Endurance Championship. The no28 Ligier JS P2-Nissan of Ricardo Gonzalez and Luis Felipe Derani beat their teammates Roman Rusinov and Sam Bird in the no26 Ligier to the top spot by just 0.062 seconds. The 1m48.021 average time was over one second faster than last year’s pole time, set by Rusinov and Olivier Pla in the G-Drive Racing Morgan.

The brand new KCMG Oreca 05 was third fastest, finishing one tenth of a second ahead of the 2014 ELMS Champions Signatech Alpine, the French team making their WEC qualifying debut.

Aston Martin sweep the board in LMGTE qualifying

Aston Martin Racing continued its strong performance and claimed a sweep of pole positions in both the LMGTE Pro and Am classes, dominating the former by filling the first three places. The new regulations for 2015 are that the two nominated drivers from each team must set at least one timed lap each, and the average of the two best lap times will serve as the reference time for establishing the grid.

The Danish duo of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen set the best average time of 1:59.970 in the No.95 Aston Martin Vantage V8 to claim their first pole position of the year, 0.205s ahead of the No.99 of Richie Stanaway and Fernando Rees. Aston Martin Racing stalwarts Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke were third in class with a combined average of 2:00.333.

The lead No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Bruni and Vilander split the two Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSRs, the Italian-Finnish pairing being just 0.05s adrift of the No.91 Porsche of Christensen and Lietz.

Aston Martin Racing’s successful day extended equally to the LMGTE Am class with the No.98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 of Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana leading the way. Their pole-winning average time was 2:01.998, almost a full second ahead of the No.50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette C7 which came through the field in the second half of the session to claim second spot. Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti were at the wheel of the American muscle car in qualifying.

Third in the Pro-Am class was the No.88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR of Klaus Bachler and Khaled Al Qubaisi, a strong showing from the entry with a best average time 2:03.134.

Qualifying results

1 17 T. BERNHARD / M. WEBBER / B. HARTLEY Porsche Team LMP1 H 1:39.721 1:39.721
2 18 R. DUMAS / N. JANI / M. LIEB Porsche Team LMP1 H 1:40.340 1:40.340 0.619 0.619
3 8 L. DI GRASSI / L. DUVAL / O. JARVIS Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 H 1:40.352 1:40.352 0.631 0.012
4 1 A. DAVIDSON / S. BUEMI / K. NAKAJIMA Toyota Racing LMP1 H 1:40.382 1:40.382 0.661 0.030
5 7 M. FÄSSLER / A. LOTTERER / B. TRÉLUYER Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 H 1:41.153 1:41.153 1.432 0.771
6 2 A. WURZ / S. SARRAZIN / M. CONWAY Toyota Racing LMP1 H 1:41.694 1:41.694 1.973 0.541
7 28 G. YACAMAN / L. DERANI / R. GONZALEZ G-Drive Racing LMP2 1:48.021 1:48.021 8.300 6.327
8 26 R. RUSINOV / J. CANAL / S. BIRD G-Drive Racing LMP2 1:48.083 1:48.083 8.362 0.062
9 47 M. HOWSON / R. BRADLEY / N. TANDY KCMG LMP2 1:49.389 1:49.389 9.668 1.306
10 36 N. PANCIATICI / P. CHATIN / V. CAPILLAIRE Signatech Alpine LMP2 1:49.498 1:49.498 9.777 0.109
11 4 S. TRUMMER / V. LIUZZI / C. KLIEN Team Bykolles LMP1 1:50.622 1:50.622 10.901 1.124
12 30 S. SHARP / R. DALZIEL / D. HEINEMEIER-HANS Extreme Speed Motorsports LMP2 1:51.551 1:51.551 11.830 0.929
13 42 N. LEVENTIS / D. WATTS / J. KANE Strakka Racing LMP2 1:52.284 1:52.284 12.563 0.733
14 35 J. NICOLET / J. MERLIN / E. MARIS Oak Racing LMP2 1:53.457 1:53.457 13.736 1.173
15 31 E. BROWN / J. FOGARTY / D. BRABHAM Extreme Speed Motorsports LMP2 1:55.491 1:55.491 15.770 2.034
16 95 C. NYGAARD / M. SØRENSEN / N. THIIM Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro 1:59.970 1:59.970 20.249 4.479
17 99 A. MACDOWALL / F. REES / R. STANAWAY Aston Martin Racing V8 LMGTE Pro 2:00.175 2:00.175 20.454 0.205
18 97 D. TURNER / S. MÜCKE Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Pro 2:00.333 2:00.333 20.612 0.158
19 91 R. LIETZ / M. CHRISTENSEN Porsche Team Manthey LMGTE Pro 2:00.651 2:00.651 20.930 0.318
20 51 G. BRUNI / T. VILANDER AF Corse LMGTE Pro 2:00.701 2:00.701 20.980 0.050
21 92 P. PILET / F. MAKOWIECKI Porsche Team Manthey LMGTE Pro 2:01.591 2:01.591 21.870 0.890
22 98 P. DALLA LANA / P. LAMY / M. LAUDA Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Am 2:01.998 2:01.998 22.277 0.407
23 71 D. RIGON / J. CALADO AF Corse LMGTE Pro 2:02.156 2:02.156 22.435 0.158
24 50 G. RODA / P. RUBERTI / K. POULSEN Larbre Competition LMGTE Am 2:02.937 2:02.937 23.216 0.781
25 88 C. RIED / K. AL QUBAISI / K. BACHLER Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing LMGTE Am 2:03.134 2:03.134 23.413 0.197
26 83 F. PERRODO / E. COLLARD / R. AGUAS AF Corse LMGTE Am 2:03.482 2:03.482 23.761 0.348
27 72 V. SHAYTAR / A. BERTOLINI / A. BASOV SMP Racing LMGTE Am 2:04.114 2:04.114 24.393 0.632
28 96 F. CASTELLACCI / R. GOETHE / S. HALL Aston Martin Racing LMGTE Am 2:05.050 2:05.050 25.329 0.936
29 77 P. DEMPSEY / P. LONG / M. SEEFRIED Dempsey Racing – Proton LMGTE Am 2:06.024 2:06.024 26.303 0.974  By Melissa Warren

Track Action (photo by Melissa Warren) Track Action (photo by Melissa Warren) Track Action (photo by Melissa Warren) Track Action (photo by Melissa Warren) Track Action (photo by Melissa Warren) Track Action (photo by Melissa Warren) Track Action (photo by Melissa Warren) Track Action (photo by Melissa Warren)

 

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