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FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Silverstone – Qualifying Between the end of third
Free Practice and the start of qualifying, Silverstone was subjected to heavy
and persistent rain – causing disruption to the Formula Renault race, which was
restarted after a chaotic first attempt saw a host of single-seaters off the
track. By comparison, the six finalists in the Nissan Playstation GT Academy
race displayed remarkable composure to generate a tense and at times highly
entertaining race, despite relatively slow three-minute laptimes. The train of
Nissan 370Zs remained tightly bunched right through to the final laps.
14:50 LMGT Qualifying Period The pit lane opens. The Aston Martin #99 is first to take to the track. Conditions remain very damp, with cars followed by trailing rooster tails and looking very twitchy. Eight of the twelve cars on track so far, with Stefan Mücke setting all the purple sectors. Jonny Adam is first to post a time, a 2:16.969. Mücke goes 2:16.420 to move ahead. Momentarily we had an Aston Martin one-two-three, with Hall through third, and all three posted fastest sectors, until Ruberti popped up to break apart the Vantage party. 14:56 14:57 14:58 14:59 15:01 Lietz returns to the track, with the #51 now back into the pitlane. The teams are changing tyres and slicks look to be the tyres of choice for the final five minutes. We think Mücke is still on inters. 15:05 15:08 Matthias moves third quickest in GTE-Am. Ruberti has leaped through the Pro field to slot the #88 Am Porsche into third overall. It's not all over yet!
Final Lap Stuart Hall moves to fourth overall to snatch Am pole with a 2:12.525 - what a blinding lap - and then Lietz grabs GT-Pro on his final lap with a 2:09.564. So pole for Porsche in GTE-Pro, and a top slot for Aston Martin in GTE-Am.
That was a brilliant end to the twenty minutes, with tyre choice and sheer bravery being the deciding factors. Seeing the 12 GT cars separated by roughly 8 seconds, and the Pro cars by five and a half, suggests that those teams that didn't select the right compounds paid the penalty. 15:20 LMP Qualifying Period The GT cars have done a great job of clearing away most of the standing water, and with the sun now shining, there's every chance of some good times. The cars are taking to the track . . . McNish, Tréluyer and Lapierre are the nominated drivers in the three factory cars. Watts, Belicchi, Jani and Chandhok in the privateer petrol cars. Lapierre the first to begin a flyer. A fairly big "off" for Alex Brundle in the #42 Greaves car, pitching the car across the gravel and sustaining some damage. The legality panel appears to have become detatched. Spin also for Martin in the ADR-Delta Oreca. A 1:52.723 from Lapierre, with McNish on a 1:53. 516, second, but posted the fastest third sector. Martin quickest in P2, until Lahaye and then Sarrazin each went quicker. McNish a fastest first sector, and Lapierre a fastest second sector, before the Toyota pits. McNish is in the middle of heavy traffic though. Belicchi goes provisional pole, briefly, 1:52.339, and then a 1:50.149 for McNish. A nasty spin for Danny Watts through the final turn in the Strakka HPD. Looks like it's fresh tyres for the Toyota. Tréluyer now setting the fastest first sectors in the #1 Audi. 15:27
A 1:48.909 from McNish extends his hold on the top slot for the #2 R18 e-tron quattro, but Tréluyer and Belicchi both make improvements. Rossiter goes to 5th overall, but is instantly bettered by Martin to regain top-slot in the ADR-Delta LMP2. 15:29 Lapierre is back out and has set two purple sectors. He crosses the line with a 1:46.343 to take two-seconds over McNish. Both Audis are thought to be pitting for different compound slicks. Nine minutes to go. Sarrazin in the P2 Starworks HPD just got ahead of the Toyota before Lapierre moved onto pole. Sims has now bettered that to go fourth overall for Status GP, leading P2, and posting a 1:51.021. James Rossiter (also celebrating a birthday this weekend!) moves into second in the #32. Meanwhile, a remarkable move by Lapierre sees the Toyota overtaking John Martin just as the Oreca was about to pit, and the two cars perform two halves of a figure of eight as they negotiate Vale. 15:32 15:33 15:35 Hard to follow P2 with all the P1 excitement. Minassian still holding the top slot, until Hartley comes through with his first really serious flyer, and posts a 1:50.456, just two one-hundredths to the good. McNish is going quicker again, with two minutes to go. Tréluyer manages another fastest first sector for the #7.
Final Lap Alex Brundle moves up to third in P2, after his first-lap off, and will be pleased with a 1:50.584. Then Minassian moves faster again, leap-frogging Hartley for P2 provisional pole.
Tréluyer crosses the line with a 1:43.663 to snatch top slot from McNish, making it an emphatic one-two at this stage for the R18s. Danny Watts is still pushing, and so too Alex Brundle, who goes to the top in P2 with a 1:49.964, and is the first to take the chequered flag. Sarrazin and Martin still have laps to complete . . . Lapierre improves on his final lap, but stays third. No improvement from McNish, and Watts has to be content with fourth - probably very content, as the Strakka HPD is, once again, best of the petrol-powered cars. One of the best qualifying sessions we've seen in international sportscar racing for many a year. Thrilling all the way, undecided almost until the final lap, and, as expected, a no-holds-barred fight for top slot in LMP2. Thrilling stuff. For times, please see links within the Resources page. |
