After a long delay to repair the damaged barriers from the GT3 session, qualifying for LMP3 got underway with all 28 cars taking to the track.
Audunn Gudmundsson made an early bid for the top spot on the grid in the no77 Team Thor Ligier but was soon displaced by Tony Wells in the no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier and then by Fabien Michal in the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine. The championship leader posted a 1m39.889 lap and then went quicker on the next couple of laps, reducing the time to 1m39.688.
Tony Wells and Romano Ricci in the no13 M Racing Ligier continued to push but it was Andrew Bentley in the no42 Steller Motorsport Duqueine who went to the top spot with 7 minutes left on the clock, the British driver posting a 1m39.534.
Fabien Michal immediately responded with a session best of 1m39.371 to claim his fifth pole position from the seven MLMC races in 2024.
The no42 Steller Motorsport Duqueine will start on the front row, finishing the session 0.163s behind the pole time.Row two will be headed by the no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier, with the no34 Inter Europol Competition Ligier finishing in 4th spot.
Championship contender Adrien Chila finished qualifying in 5th place in the no97 COOL Racing Ligier and will be joined on the third row by the no20 High Class Racing Ligier of Jen Moller.
In a session that was hit by two red flags, it was Matt Kurzejewski in the no51 AF Corse Ferrari who timed his fast lap to perfection, posting the best lap of the session just before the second red flag was shown to bring GT3 qualifying to an end.
The final GT3 qualifying of the season began on a dry track with the sun in the sky. The no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Andrew Gilbert set the early pace with a 1m45.565 lap, with the no88 AF Corse Ferrari of Custodio Toledo in second.
The first red flag was shown after four and a half minutes when the no12 Kessel Racing Ferrari went off into the barriers at T4. Frederic Jousset was OK but the car had to taken back to the pits on a flatbed truck.
The session resumed with James Swift in the no90 Blackthorn Aston Martin making a bid for a second pole in a row with a 1m44.325, with Alex Martin in the no24 Steller Motorsport Audi in second with a 1m44.556.
The no51 AF Corse Ferrari, which still hadn’t set a flying lap, was on a charge, with Matt Kurzejewski crossing the line in 1m43.976 to take provisional pole position. Alex Martin was also on a flying lap but the Audi went off track into the barriers at T8, bringing out the second Red Flag with five minutes of the session remaining.
The barrier was damaged in the collision and the qualifying session was not resumed to allow for repairs to be carried out.
The no51 AF Corse Ferrari will start on pole position for the second time in 2024, with the no90 Blackthorn Aston Martin on the front row for the second time in a row after taking pole in Mugello.
Row 2 will see the no88 AF Corse Ferrari and the no24 Steller Motorsport Audi, if the car can be repaired by the team, with the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari and no83 Iron Dames Lamborghini on Row 3.
The Portimão Round will take place tomorrow morning at 10h30 BST / 11h30 CEST.
CLICK HERE for the results from Qualifying.
