Fabien Lavergne posted the fastest time during the 15 minute qualifying session for the final race of the 2018 Michelin Le Mans Cup season. The French driver set a lap time of 1m41.846, 0.5 seconds ahead of the next car, the no2 Ecurie Ecosse / Nielsen Ligier of Tony Wells.
The session was stopped after seven minutes of running when the no14 RLR MSport Ligier of John Farano went off at T5 in a dangerous position and the session was stopped to allow the Canadian’s car to be recovered safely.
When the session resumed it was the no30 CD Sport Norma that bounced to the top of the time sheets, with Lavergne posting three fast laps in a row to take the provisional pole position. However in the post qualifying technical checks the splitter height on the front of the Norma M30 was not in compliance with the 2018 Technical Regulations and all lap times were cancelled (Stewards Decision no7).
This promoted the no2 Ecurie Ecosse / Nielsen Ligier to the top spot, with the 2018 championship winning car, the no3 DKR Engineering Norma of Jens Petersen, which was just 0.2 seconds behind Tony Wells, will now line up on the front row tomorrow morning.
Four Out of Six for Pianezzola
2018 Champion Elect Sergio Pianezzola scored his fourth pole position from six attempts during the 2018 season with a dominant lap in the 15 minute session in Portugal. The Italian posted a 1m45.306 lap, 1.6 second ahead of the rest of the GT3 grid, which was headed by the no88 Ebimotors Porsche of Alessandro Baccani.
Manuela Gostner, who is making her Michelin Le Mans Cup debut this weekend, was third quickest in the no77 Kessel Racing F488 and was second fastest until the very last lap when Baccani went three tenths quicker than his fellow Italian.
The session was red flagged for a short time after just over 5 minutes of running after the no51 Ferrari driven by Christoph Ulrich went off in a dangerous position. The session resumed after a few minutes when the Ferrari rejoined the track.
The final race of the 2018 season will take place tomorrow morning, Sunday 28 October, at 09h00.
CLICK HERE for the result from qualifying
