 |
| Lieb snatched pole in the final seconds of the session on a drying track. |
This is Spa in its most awkward mode! After a dry, rather rapid second free practice the track has now been declared wet again.. all these rumours about Spa having its own ‘micro climate’ are true. To make things even more indecisive it is still raining but there is strong breeze which will hopefully dry out the track, but probably only in places. Who would want a team managers job! We wonder if Audi have got to grips with their dodgy tyre choices at Silverstone. There is much talk of these magic Michelin wets with no grooves . It is a tricky concept to grasp but they seem fit in somewhere between traditional ‘intermediates' and ‘slicks'… confused? You will be !
GT Qualifying
The session has been declared ‘wet’ which may seem a bit blindingly obvious but under the regulations teams can’t use wet tyres unless the race has been officially declared wet by the Race Director.
The way this works is that the LM GTE Pro and Am go out on their own then the LMP1 and LMP2 go out after them in their own session . This session only lasts 30 mins so there is no time to dawdle.
After about 15 mins it interesting to note that after a bit of lacklustre day so far the two of the Astons..#99 and #97 are tucking in behind the leading Porsche #91. Ferrari are back in 4th. The top ten are all on the same second.. it is close. But don’t forget the grid position will be down to the average time set over the four fastest laps set by two drivers. So the actual grid doesn’t take shape until the end of the session. All of a sudden the #71 AF Corse Ferrari sprang into life and with around 8 mins to go is at the top of the times on average, only to be bounced down the order by both the Porsches, and now Aston Martin are nowhere! Until that is, Darren Turner hauls the #97 Aston into a very respectable 4th. Then as the flag went out Darren Turner heaved the #97 Aston Martin into 2nd. This puts the factory Porsches on the 2nd row.
At the flag the first five cars are separated by less than a second..
#51 Ferrari 458 Italia
#97 Aston Martin Vantage V8
#92 Porsche 911 RSR
#91 Porsche 911 RSR
#99 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
With all this going on it was easy to miss that in LM GT Am it was the #61 Ferrari that took pole ahead of #75 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and #81 Ferrari 458 Italia.
Suddenly Bruni and Ferrari are back.. this is great stuff.
Full results on www.fiawec.com.
LMP1 and LMP2 Qualifying
The track is still ‘wet’ but a dry line is beginning to show. Once again the times are mighty close with the front four all on the same second. But a stonking lap from Buemi in the #8 Toyota put a stop to all that.. 1.3 secs ahead of the #20 Porsche driven by Hartley.
LMP2 was initially led by #47 Oreca 03 about half a second ahead of the #26 G-Force Morgan Nissan. The #37 Oreca 03 Nissan that crashed out earlier today has not made it out.. rather as we had expected.
With half the session gone teams are now put their second drivers out on the track. This method of qualifying makes any sort of predictions very tricky because while you wait for the drivers to bank their four quick laps we don’t get the averages that give us the grid.. With five minutes to go Toyota looked strong with Buemi in the #8 car.. just behind him the two Porsches but we needed to wait for Audi’s last blast ! And as if to order, Lotterer puts the #2 Audi onto the provisional front row beside the Toyota and then takes pole with two minutes to go.. but Buemi responds.. and takes it back. But nobody told Lieb who does a superb job as the chequered flag came out he swept to a rather surprising pole. Wow .. that was amazing! Audi wont be all that happy with that result and it is good to see that Porsche do have the raw pace to take the fight to Toyota.
#14 Porsche
#8 Toyota
#2 Audi
#7 Toyota
#20 Porsche
#6 Audi
The LMP2 pole stayed with the #47 Oreca 03 with #27 Oreca 03 second.
No comments:
Post a Comment