With the sun shining and the thermometer showing 27 degrees Celsius, qualifying for the two Road to Le Mans races took place on the 13.6km Circuit De La Sarthe.
Team Virage and Team WRT Claim Pole for Race 1
The first 20-minute session was for the gold and silver rated drivers, the only qualifying session that these drivers are allowed to take part in during the 2023 Michelin Le Mans Cup season.
Pole position for this evening’s first race was claimed by the no58 Team Virage Ligier of Manuel Espirito Santo, the Portuguese driver posting the only sub 3m47s lap with an impressive 3m46.735. The time was 0.485s ahead of the no23 United Autosports Ligier of Wayne Boyd, which will line up on the front row of the grid.
Row two was claimed by the no66 Rinaldi Racing Ligier of Daniel Keilwitz, the German’s time of 3m47.271 was just 0.008s ahead of the no4 Nielsen Racing Duqueine of Matt Bell.
Team WRT claimed a 1-2 in GT3, with the no31 BMW M4 of Max Hesse finishing on a 3m55.888, 0.671s ahead of his teammate Valentino Rossi in the no46 BMW.
The no86 HCR with Caffeinesix Porsche 911 of Anders Fjordbach heads the second row of the GT3 field, the Dane posting a 3m56.673, 0.180s ahead of the no57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 of Russel Ward.
Six different manufacturers finished in the top 8 in qualifying with the no 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini in 5th, the no74 AF Corse and no51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3s were 6thand 7threspectively and the no42 Steller Motorsport Audi R8 LMS in 8th.
Team WRT Takes Second GT3 Pole and CD Sport Claim Top Spot for Race 2
The second qualifying session for Friday’s Road to Le Mans race took place immediately after qualifying 1 and was reserved for bronze drivers.
The session was interrupted by two red flags before anyone had set a qualifying time. The first red flag was caused by the no67 Haegali by T2 Racing Duqueine which went off the track at Dunlop and got stuck in the gravel.
The session resumed and was once again stopped when the no3 DKR Engineering Duqueine of Alexander Bukhantsov stopped at the side of the track at Marshal Post 2 with a small fire reported, which was quickly extinguished. The car had also dropped fluids on the track, which the marshals quickly treated so the session could resume for the third time.
With just nine minutes of the session remaining the remaining cars would have a maximum of two flying laps before the chequered flag would be waved.
The no33 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine of Torsten Kratz made a bid for the pole position with a 3m50.536 lap but was denied by the no2 CD Sport Ligier of Fabien Michal, who took the chequered flag 0.187s faster in 3m50.349.
Row two will be filled by the no87 COOL Racing Ligier of Adrien Chila with a 3m51.779 and the no12 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier of Jacques Wolff with a 3m53.093.
Team WRT claimed their second Road To Le Mans pole position with Jerome Policand taking the chequered flag in the no46 BMW M4 GT3 in 4m01.170, 1.683 seconds ahead of the no10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage of Arnold Robin.
Row 2 of the GT3 grid will be filled by the no86 HCR with CaffeineSix Porsche and the no57 Winward Racing Mercedes.
Race 1 of the 2023 Road to Le Mans is due to start at 18h30 this afternoon with Race 2 on Friday morning at 11h30.
CLICK HERE for the result from Qualifying 1
CLICK HERE for the result from Qualifying 2
