ORECA have impressively locked out the top three of the grid ahead of the second round of the European Le Mans Series in Monza. The French team Graff has taken their first pole position with the #39 entrant. In LMP3, a tight battle to the flag saw #3 United Autosports beat #19 M.Racing-YMR to class pole. In front of their home crowd, Ferrari has taken class pole in LM GTE. This was much to the delight of the Italian crowd and Ferrari will be hoping to convert that into the win in the four-hour endurance race.
Enzo Guibbert gained the overall pole position for the 4 Hours of Monza for #39 Graff. The battle for pole was close, with only four-tenths splitting the top four. But it was the battle between Guibbert and Nico Lapierre for pole that had everyone on the edge of their seats. Just 0.115 separated the Graff from the #21 DragonSpeed when the chequered flag fell. #22 G-Drive Racing finished thrid in another ORECA-07 chassis-running machine, just two-tenths of the pace setting Graff.
If the competition for LMP2 pole was close, it was even closer in LMP3 as the fight for pole position went down to the chequered flag. Wayne Boyd had the advantage in the #3 Untied Autosport and provisional pole position when the chequered flag fell, but most of the field still had their laps to complete and the pace was very close. Ricky Capo tried his best but missed out on class pole position but 0.048 seconds. The #17 Ultimate car took third place on the grid, only just holding onto the position from #2 United Autosports by 0.034 seconds. The pace of the LMP3 field is looking very close this weekend.
Matt Griffin made the home crowds happy when he put the #55 Spirit of Race on pole position in LM GTE. Duncan Cameron, Aaron Scott and he will try very hard to stay ahead in the race to bring home a victory in front of the Tifosi. It is the first pole position the team has had since the 2015 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring. The 1:48.027 was a quick enough time to fend off any challenges that Fernando Rees could propose in the #50 Larbre Competition. It was three different manufacturers in the top three of LM GTE as the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR 991 placed it third. The first Aston Martin, the TF Sprot #90, was fourth with all four of the cars covered by under a second.
Close battles across the grid look in order for the 4 Hours of Monza, but with it being an endurance race anything can happen in the 240-minute race. The race gets underway at 12:30 BST on the 14th May and has all the indications of being a race not to miss.
