Roda Claims Double Pole in Malaysia with Proton Competition

LMP2: Roda Claims Double Pole in Sepang for Proton Competition

Under sunny skies, with the track temperature hitting 41 degrees and the air temperature at 31.5 degrees the cars headed out for the LMP2 and LMP3 session.

In LMP2 the early running was made by the no22 Proton Competition Oreca of Giorgio Roda, the Italian, who had set five out six class poles in the European Le Mans Series this year, put in a quick lap of 1m54.148 and then followed it up with a 1m53.197 that wasn’t beaten for the rest of the 15-minute session.

It was a battle for the other front row position, with Aliaksandr Malykhin in the no91 Pure Rxcing and Jeremy Clarke in the no50 AF Corse going head-to-head with Clarke eventually getting the upper hand with a 1m54.428 lap, 0.231 behind Roda and 0.233s ahead of Malykhin.

Alexander Mattschull put in a late lap in the no11 Proton Competition to claim 4th on the grid in R1 this afternoon with a 1m54.204, six tenths ahead of Francois Perrodo in the no83 AF Corse.

The grid for race 2 on Sunday was set by the second fastest times of the session with Giorgio Roda claiming pole position from Aliaksandr Malykhin in second place and Jeremy Clarke in third.

LMP3: Ultimate Claims Pole for Both Races

The LMP3 category was out on track with LMP2, with the no34 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of posting the first provisional pole time, the British driver lapping in 2m05.220.  Stephane Lemeret in the no35 Ultimate Ligier was second quickest, just 0.098 off the pole time on the Belgian’s first flying lap.

On the next lap Lemeret reduced the pole time by nearly three seconds, crossing the line in 2m02.144.  The no7 Graff Racing Ligier of reigning champion Alexander Bukhantsov went second fastest with a 2m03.022 before being pushed to third by the no26 Bretton Racing Ligier of Jens Moller.

Lemeret improved the pole time to 2m02.088, which wasn’t bettered before the chequered flag.  Reigning ELMS LMP3 Champion Nick Adcock put the no15 RLR MSport Ligier on the front row of the LMP3 grid with a 2m02.476, 0.388 behind Lemeret and 0.075s ahead of Jens Moller, with Alexander Bukhantsov finishing 4th.

The second-best times set the grid for Race 2, with the grid being mirrored from the first session meaning the no35 Ultimate Ligier will start on pole.

GT: Getspeed Claim Pole for Race 1, with AF Corse on Pole for Race 2

The GT session saw 25 cars out on track in the glorious sunshine with the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Dustin Scott Blattner setting the early pace with a 2m06.554 lap of the 5.4km Sepang International Circuit.

Then in quick succession the no87 Origine Motorsport Porsche went quickest, then the no81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG and then Steve Jans in the no9 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG posted a 2m05.092 with just over 7 minutes of the session remaining.

Massimiliano Wiser went into second place in the no28 AF Corse Ferrari with a 2m05.638 before being bumped to third by the Blattner in the no74 Ferrari.

Wiser then went back up into second spot with a 2m05.253s, just 0.161s behind Jans’ pole time.  The Italian went even quicker with 60 seconds left on the clock, closing the gap to 0.035s to claim second spot on the grid for this afternoon’s race.

At the chequered flag Dustin Scott Blattner was on a flying lap, ahead of the pole time in the first two sectors but sector three saw the American’s time slower than his previous best.

The no9 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG will start on pole with the no28 AF Corse alongside on the front row of the GT grid.  The no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari and the no81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG will be on row 2, with the no57 Car Guy Ferrari and the no51 AF Corse Ferrari on row 3.

Two Chinese teams will start on row 4, with the no87 Origine Motorsport Porsche just ahead of the no2 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG.

The grid for race 2 was set by the second fastest times in the same session with the no28 AF Corse claiming the top spot ahead of the no9 Getspeed.  The no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari will head row 2 with the no81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG.

Results are HERE