Le Mans Series, Estoril - Saturday - GT Qualifying Report The clouds were back again but it was still very pleasant, around 22 degrees, as the nine Pro GTEs and four Am GTEs took to the track for their 20 minute qualifying session. Armindo’s first flier was a 1:40.778 and oddly by 5 minutes into the session only he, Cioci and Holzer had ventured out. Armino improved to a 1:40.014 then pitted. It was good enough for GT Am pole. "To get a good lap today was important, it could have been much better. This morning I was faster than all of the GTE Pro cars and I thought we could go even quicker. I changed just two little things a little bit too far so we went back. I think we could have been in the top three Pro cars but it is better like this because we must concentrate on the Am championship, which is where we play, not get involved in the Pro fight. Hopefully next year I will be with the Pros, but we will see..." Holzer’s first (and best) was an impressive 1:39.526, right on the pace the Porsches had ran in qualifying. Melo’s first was not impressive at 1:41.931 but he improved that to a 1:40.390. Half the session gone and a glut of cars left the pitlane, leaving behind Rob Bell and Gimmi Bruni momentarily, they took to the track with eight minutes to go. Lietz took #77 to second, also on a very Porsche-esque 1:39.5(71). Pilet made up the top three with a 1:39.964 but then Dominik Farnbacher went third with a 1:39.851 with his first flier. Lietz jumped to the top with a 1:39.374. Five minutes to go and Rob Bell’s first flier was a 1:39.469, so he went second, but only for a tour, as next time round it was a 1:39.176 to put him top. Bruni was now third with a 1:39.454, the new car seemingly being properly bolted together for this session, in fact next time round he was second with a 1:39.356. Lietz and Holzer were pushed back to third and fourth , then Farnbacher fifth. Only Pilet could take the fight back for Porsche as everyone else had pitted bar Bruni and Ayari in the final minute. Bruni’s next and last was a 1:39.223, just 0.057 seconds behind Bell. Rob's first pole of the season: "It has been a hard year, its good to be starting ahead of Gimmi, but he is right there. It is going to be a particulary hard race tomorrow I am sure because there are less cars so there should be less incidents and that will make it tighter. Dunlop have done a good job bouncing back from Silverstone, to get pole is a fantastic achievement. We've worked hard with set-up all year and it is still a new car, it is the end of the season but we haven't done a lot of mileage in it. I knew it was a good time so I lifted off and we need to think about longevity, hopefully the tyres will stand up to the first one or two stints." Armindo's time was unchallenged, Cioci half a second back, so #67 will start ahead of three GTE Pro cars. Ayari struggled, Quaife almost matching his time in the older F430, #88 are only making up the numbers so far this weekend. 66 1:39.176
51 1:39.233
77 1:39.374
75 1:39.526
89 1:39.749
76 1:39.964
67 1:40.014
71 1:40.390
79 1:40.417
61 1:40.558
90 1:40.746
82 1:40.777
88 1:42.107 PS | 
