Roda Retains 100% Qualifying Record with Proton Competition in Dubai

Giorgio Roda claimed another double pole position for both races in Dubai in the no22 Proton Competition Oreca, the Italian adding to the two poles he claimed in Sepang to make it four poles from four attempts.

The session started with the no24 Nielsen Racing heading the time sheets after the first lap with the no91 Pure Rxcing, no22 Proton Competition and no50 AF Corse going to the top spot in quick order.  The no50 AF Corse Oreca of Jeremey Clarke lowering the time to 1m48.154, who then clipped a kerb at T1 on the next lap, spinning the American around.

Roda then responded with a 1m47.569 with 7-minutes left on the clock.  He then popped in a 1m48.049 to claim the pole for Race 2, which left the rest of the field fighting over who would join Roda on the front row.  P2 was claimed by Jeremy Clarke in the no50 AF Corse for both races, with Aliaksandr Malykhin in the no91 Pure Rxcing and Alexander Mattschull in the no11 Proton Competition filling row 2 for both races.

LMP3: Kiefer Takes Double Pole for High Class Racing

Thomas Kiefer claimed the LMP3 pole position in both races in Dubai on his ALMS debut after the 15-minute LMP qualifying session at the Dubai Autodrome.

The no26 Bretton Racing Ligier of Jens Reno Moeller set the early LMP3 pace, the Dane posting a 1m58.199 on his first lap.  It wasn’t until halfway through the session that Moeller was knocked off the top spot when Kiefer posted a 1m54.942, which bettered Moeller’s best lap of 1m55.930 by nearly a second.

A second best lap of 1m54.942 lap by Kiefer confirmed the pole for race 2, with the no7 Graff Racing Ligier of Alexander Bukhantsov claiming third in Race 1 with a 1m56.300 and a front row start in race 2 with his second best time of 1m56.318, pushing the no49 High Class Racing Ligier into third for Sunday’s race.

Row 2 for race 1 was claimed by the no34 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Tim Cresswick, with Nick Adcock taking 4th for Race 2 in the no15 RLR MSport.

GT: Blattner Claims Double Pole for Kessel Racing in Dubai

Qualifying for the GT category saw the 28 cars go out on track for the 15-minute session.  The no14 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG of Lui Wei setting the first competitive time, the Chinese driver posting a 2m000.034 ahead of the no96 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG and the no19 Blackthorn Aston Martin.

As the session progressed several cars made their bids for the top position on the grid with the no18 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG Sergey Stolyarov, the no87 Origine Motorsport Porsche of Bo Yuan and the no19 Blackthorn Aston Martin of Reema Juffali all briefly holding the provisional pole position before the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Dustin Blattner posted a 1m58.960 lap with three minutes left on the clock.

The American then went quicker on the next lap with a 1m58.891 to claim the pole for Race 1 and Race 2.

With 36 seconds of the session remaining the red flag was shown after Charles-Henri Samani’s no82 AF Corse Ferrari went off into the wall at Turn 6. The French driver emerged unaided but the session was over as the damaged Ferrari had to be lifted away.

The no81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of championship leader Rinat Salikhov will start Race 1 in P2, with the no28 AF Corse Ferrari and no9 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG in P3 and P4 respectively.

For Race 2 the no87 Origine Motorsport Porsche will join the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari on the front row, with the no16 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG and no19 Blackthorn Aston Martin on row 2.

The first 4 Hours of Dubai race is due to get underway at 14h10 (local) this afternoon.

Results are HERE