French driver Pierre-Alexandre Provost secured pole position for CLX Motorsport in this afternoon’s Le Castellet Round at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
A red flag after 7 minutes into the 15-minute session was caused when a rain shower fell on the track and the slick shod no30 CD Sport Duqueine-Toyota driven by Arthur Rogeon spun off into the barriers.Rogeon was OK but was taken to the medical centre for checks.After the barrier was repaired the session resumed for an 8-minute sprint to the chequered flag.
The no87 CLX Motorsport Ligier-Toyota was the quickest car with Provost setting a 1m58.459 lap, just ahead of the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine of Hadrien David and the no50 23Events Racing Ligier of Matteo Quintarelli.
On the next lap Provost improved his pole time to 1m57.447 but he was still being challenged by his nearest rivals.The no87 CLX Motorsport Ligier went even quicker with a 1m57.325 just before the chequered flag.Matteo Quintarelli was also on a flying lap and took the chequered flag in 1m57.337, just 0.012s behind Provost.
The no25 Reiter Engineering Ligier finished in third place at the chequered flag with Miklas Born posting a 1m57.912, two tenths ahead of the no92 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier of Charles Rousanne.Hadrien David finished in 5thspot in the no85 Duqueine, just ahead of the 6thfastest car, the no6 ANS Motorsport Ligier of Axel Gnos.
A pole position in their home race for 23Events Racing was secured by Terrence Woodward as the session saw rain fall on the track in the final minute of the 15-minute qualifying session.Woodward’s 2m00.177 lap was set the lap before the rain fell and he finished 0.440s ahead of the rest of the field.
Ben Stone secured a front row start for the no62 Bretton Racing Ligier with a 2m00.617 lap, 0.173s ahead of Julien Lemoine in the no84 ANS Motorsport Ligier-Toyota.
Stefan Aust set the early pace in the no71 Rinaldi Racing Ligier but dropped back to 4thwith a best lap of 2m00.962 lap at the chequered flag.
A dramatic GT3 qualifying session saw several drivers challenge for pole position at Le Castellet but it was the no17 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Lorenzo Innocenti take the top spot for this afternoon’s race.
The session saw the no51 AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Cozzi set the early pace but was soon surpassed by the no83 Iron Dames Porsche driven by Vanina Ickx.Innocenti then pushed the no17 Ferrari to the top of the timing screens with Ickx keeping pace.The Belgian driver briefly held the top spot with five minutes left on the clock but Innocenti went quicker.
On her final Vanina Ickx looked on course to take pole as the chequered flag was displayed by the Porsche crossed the line still in second spot as Lorenzo Innocenti improved his time at the chequered flag to 2m05.530.
The no51 Ferrari finished in third with the no65Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG of Heiko Neumann finishing the session in fourth.
Round 2 of the MLMC will take place this afternoon at 16h45 CEST.
CLICK HERE for the result from Qualifying.
