LMS Barcelona – GT Qualifying

Peter Kox was sitting patiently in his Lamborghini Murcielago as the start of the 20 qualifying session approached, and as soon as the timing screens began to count down the car was dropped off his jacks and heading down the pitlane; the first car to emerge.

With only a couple of cars deigning to join him at this early stage, the Dutch driver took full advantage and, with his first flying lap, set the fastest GT1 time of the meeting so far – 1:44.502.

He followed this up with a marginally quicker circulation – 1:44.446 – but that was all he needed to cement GT1 pole.

“The team have done a good job,” said Kox. “They prepped the car well over the winter and the laptimes show this.

“I need to say a big thank you to the Michelin guys. The other GT1 cars are on different tyres and the Michelin’s made a big difference. Everyone struggled yesterday in the rain, but the grip is much better today and the track is now in a reasonable condition.”

The Easyrace Ferrari was the first of the GT2 runners to set a representative time, but Gianpaolo Tenchini’s 1:51.470 flattered to deceive – fastest at that point in the session, but slowest by the end. The curious slogan on the Italian newcomers’ awning seemed to sum up the situation perfectly - “Easyrace…not so easy!”

As the session reached the halfway stage, we still had seen only six of the 15 GT cars setting a flying lap.

Allan Simonsen had briefly captured provisional pole for Hankook Team Farnbacher, with a 1:48.874, before rapidly relinquishing it to the #99 JMB 430 of Johan-Boris Scheier, who lowered the bar to 1:49.424.

In GT1, Kox had by now parked up the Lamborghini, leaving Yann Clairay the challenge of bettering his pace. The Frenchman set a 1:45.926 on his first lap, but was unable to improve on it subsequently. This was by no means a disgrace, however, and left the Luc Alphand C6.R comfortably in second place.

Sean Edwards dragged all the pace he could out of the elderly Arc Bratislava Saleen and was third in class as the session neared its end. Sebastien Dumez, however, managed to claim that spot after earlier pitting the Larbre Saleen to have adjustments made to the front bodywork.

As the session entered its final eight minutes, the top times began to be traded; although things never reached a particularly high level of excitement, due to the teams being mindful of having to start the race with the same set of boots and then having to make them last.

Gimmi Bruni suddenly appeared in provisional pole with a 1:48.666 for the JMW Ferrari, but Patrick Pilet managed a 1:48.752 shortly afterwards in the #76 Imsa Matmut Porsche. That was as close as he got, however, and Bruni pitted with just under five miuntes remaining having improved his time to 1:48.606.

Antonio Garcia was his usual cool self as he weighed up the situation and only decided to join in with the Team Modena Ferrari with seven minutes remaining.

As he wound up the wick, he set third fastest with a 1:49.066, but was almost immediately deposed by Richard Lietz in the #77 Felbermayr Porsche – 1:49.006. The Spaniard kept on it, however, and as the session approached its conclusion, the timing screen showed that he had completed the first two sectors quicker than he had previously.

As the red car swept across the line, the screen showed that the local hero’s attempt to claim GT2 pole had failed by the smallest of margins – six hundredths of a second.

“We did a very good job,” said a satisfied Bruni. “We had an electrical problem yesterday and also this morning, but we made an adjustment before qualifying. It meant that I went into the session a bit blind, but we went in the right direction.

“It should be a very good race tomorrow, with the other Porsche and Ferraris, but there is a big problem with a lot of drivers in LMP1 and LMP2 not being able to drive in traffic because of inexperience. They are not treating the GT2 cars well and I will put money on there being a safety car after Turn 1 – it’s strange; they don’t know how to pass.”

The Spyker challenge never materialised, with Tom Coronel’s best of 1:50.180 leaving the C8 Laviolette in ninth place, just ahead of the Virgo Motorsport Ferrari and the Drayson Racing Aston Martin. 

Antonio Garcia:

“We always leave it late to keep the rest nervous! Actually its to see how things turn out, get rid of some of the traffic and have as clear a run as possible.

“We have a lot still to learn about the car but we are very encouraged to be so close, so quickly.”

Jim McWhirter:

“That’s a good result for the boys. It’s been a very hard few months and that’s the first point in the bag.  There’s an old rugby saying: ‘Score a point and the other team is a point behind’ I think that’s a good place to start.”