QUALIFYING: Pourchaire Claims Pole in Thrilling Wet Qualifying at Imola

With the track still wet from the earlier rain but it was starting to dry out, the teams all elected to use Goodyear wets with the no18 IDEC Sport with Daniel Juncadella at the wheel setting the early pace.However, the times started to tumble as the track dried, with Pourchaire going to the top of the times with a 1m46.163 before being pushed down the order by the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton of Maceo Capietto and no18 IDEC Sport in quick succession.

On the next lap Pourchaire crossed the line in 1m44.476 and then improved again to a 1m44.129.

With three minutes left on the clock the no37 CLX Motorsport Oreca, with Tristan Vautier at the wheel, went off at T7 and the red flags were deployed to recover the car from the gravel.

The session resumed for one final lap and with a visible dry line the times were going to be quicker than the current provisional pole.

The no22 United Autosports Oreca was the first across the line in a 1m41.412 but was quickly pushed off the top in quick succession by Capietto in the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton, Filipe Albuquerque in the no24 Nielsen Racing and the no34 Inter Europol Competition of Luca Ghiotto. But all eyes were on the no25 Algarve Pro Racing and Pourchaire crossed the line in 1m37.919, 0.971s ahead of the rest.

The no25 Algarve Pro Racing will be joined by the no34 Inter Europol Competition, with the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton and no43 Inter Europol Competition filling row 2. Row three is filled by the no30 Duqueine Team and the no24 Nielsen Racing.

LMP2 Pro/Am: Giorgio Roda Blitzes Delayed Qualifying Session

After a 65-minute delay due to heavy rain flooding the track, the LMP2 Pro/Am session got underway with heavy spray being kicked up from the Goodyear Eagle wet tyres.Giorgio Roda has been the driver to beat in qualifying and once again proved to be up to the challenge in the difficult conditions.

The no77 Proton Competition Oreca-Gibson set an initial provisional pole position time of 1m53.136, over three seconds faster than the nearest rival, the no3 DKR Engineering of Giorgios Kolovos.

On the next lap Roda lowered the time by a big margin when the Italian crossed the line in the no77 Oreca in 1m50.254, leaving the rest of the field to squabble over the minor placings on the class grid for tomorrow’s 4 Hours of Imola.

However, Roda wasn’t done and with 4 minutes left on the clock he posted a 1m47.528s, 2.9 seconds ahead of the no99 AO by TF Oreca of 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 Pro/Am winner PJ Hyett.

With two minutes left the no27 Nielsen Racing Oreca driven by Tony Wells, spun off into the gravel at T11/T12 and the session was red flagged.

The no77 Proton Competition and no99 AO by TF will start on the front row of the LMP2 Pro/Am grid with the no3 DKR Engineering and no27 Nielsen Racing on row 2.

LMP3: Three from Three for CLX Motorsport as Storm Hits Imola

The no17 CLX Motorsport Liger will start from pole position for tomorrow’s 4 Hours of Imola with Theodor Jensen setting one fast lap before heavy rain stopped all further improvements.