Jota Sport will start from pole at this afternoon’s ELMS 4 Hours of Le Castellet thanks to a quick lap from Harry Tincknell midway through the 20 minute session.
The British driver’s 1:46.917s lap was 0.14s quicker than the impressive Nicolas Minassian, who rolled back the years to pilot the AF Racing BR01-Nissan to its best ever qualifying result.
Minassian’s team-mate Mikhail Aleshin put in a last gap fastest lap to go third overall, edging out the Thiriet by TDS Racing ORECA of Tristan Gommendy.
Leo Roussel gave Pegasus Racing an encouraging performance with fifth on the grid thanks to an early 1:48.074s, while ELMS lap record holder Nathanael Berthon could only manage sixth for Murphy Prototypes.
Le Mans winner Richard Bradley will start seventh for Eurasia Motorsport after qualifying three tenths quicker than fellow Briton Jon Lancaster in the Greaves Motorsport Gibson.
Michael Munemann and Tracy Krohn rounded out the class order for Algarve Pro Racing and Krohn Racing respectively.
There was a session-long duel in LMP3 that was eventually settled by a 1:55.431s lap from Team LNT’s Charlie Robertson. The Scot had been trailing Michael Simpson in the sister Team LNT Ginetta for much of the session, but his final flying lap was good enough to usurp Simpson by the narrow margin of 0.2s.
Both of the Team LNT cars finished ahead of the entire LMGTE field, while SVK by Speed Factory’s Konstantin Calko will start behind the group after setting a 1:56.731s. The other Ginetta LMP3, entered by Italian squad Villorba Corse, will complete the class. Its pilot Giorgio Sernagiotto had the only noticeable moment of the session in the form of a brief spin at turn two, but the Italian was able to continue.
AT Racing’s Alessandro Pier Guidi confirmed pole position in LMGTE with an early 1:55.782s marker aboard his team’s Ferrari 458 Italia. Fellow Italian Andrea Bertolini was also on the pace, but was unable to provide an answer to his rival’s pace, instead registering a 1:55.818s in the closing stages. Championship leader Mikkel Mac qualified third for Formula Racing, making the grid a Ferrari 1-2-3, while Adam Carroll will start the Gulf Racing UK Porsche 911 RSR from fourth.
Franck Perera was pleased with his team’s set up as he took a GTC pole position on home soil for TDS Racing. The BMW Z4 driver left it late to climb to the top of the class standings, but when he did with a 1:58.396s he held his place. Starting second is the #62 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Francesco Castellacci, who led much of the 20 minute session, while the #63 sister car of Marco Cioci will start third.
