Asian LMS - Qualifying Clean Sweep for Roda with Double Pole in Abu Dhabi

The no22 Proton Competition Oreca will start both races in Abu Dhabi on pole position after Giorgio Roda posted the fastest and second fastest times in the 15-minute qualifying session to secure all six pole positions in the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series.

The LMP session was red flagged almost immediately after the no91 Pure Rxcing Oreca stopped in the pit exit tunnel and had to be removed before qualifying could resume.

With just under 13-minutes left on the clock the session went green again and it was Giorgio Roda who immediately set the pace claiming pole for both races, with a session best time of 1m41.392 and a second-best lap of 1m41.534 to claim pole for Sunday’s race.

The no50 AF Corse Oreca will start both races on the front row after a strong performance by Jeremy Clarke in qualifying.  The car had been rebuilt by the team after a heavy accident earlier in the week and their hard work had been repaid by the American with a 1m42.263 and 1m42.659 two best laps.

The no11 Proton Competition finished third, with championship leaders no25 Algarve Pro Racing starting on row two.

LMP3: Kiefer Takes Double Pole for High Class Racing

High Class Racing will start at the front of the LMP3 field for the final two races of the 2024/25 season after Thomas Kiefer finished over half a second ahead of the Alexander Bukhantsov in the no7 Graff Racing Liger.  Kiefer’s best lap of 1m49.315 was enough to claim pole in race 1 and a 1m49.635 was good enough for pole in the final race of the season tomorrow.

Bukhantsov will start on the LMP3 front row for both races, with 4 Hours of Dubai race winner Nick Adcock finished the session in third ahead of Jens Reno Moeller in the no26 Breton Racing Ligier.  Championship leaders Ultimate finished the session in 5th spot.

GT: Salikhov and Winward Racing Are One Step Closer to GT Title

GT Championship leaders Winward Racing will start on pole for this afternoon’s race, with the no81 Mercedes-AMG only needing to finish 5th or higher to secure the GT title this evening.

The GT session was interrupted by no less than three red flags, the first after nearly 9 minutes of running when the no42 Prime Speed Sport Lamborghini spun at T16 and stopped in the middle of the track.

The session resumed but was almost immediately red flagged again with debris on the track after a collision between the no87 Origine Motorsport Porsche and the no27 Optimum Motorsport McLaren.

With less than 5 minutes left the session resumed for a third time but was red flagged again, with no flying laps completed.  The no87 Porsche, which had received a new nose to replace the damaged one, spun at T16 and stopped.  With just 1m59s left on the clock the session was not restarted.

Rinat Salikhov had set his best time of 1m54.668 just before the first red flag to claim pole for Race 1 with a 1m54.669 lap, 0.081s ahead of the no92 Manthey EMA Porsche of Ryan Hardwick in second place.

Row 2 for race 1 will be filled by the no89 EBM Aston Martin Vantage of Gabriel Rindone, with the no2 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG in 4th after Bihuang Zhou posted a 1m54.918 lap, 0.25s behind the pole sitter.

The no77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren was fifth fastest and the no16 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG was sixth.

The no2 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG will start from pole for race 2 in Abu Dhabi, the 1m55.794 lap was 0.310s ahead of the no77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Morgan Tillbrook.  The no89 EBM Aston Martin and the no57 Car Guy Ferrari 296 will start tomorrow’s race on row 2.

Results are HERE