Tom Kristensen took his first ever pole position in sportscars after fighting for the honour with first Stefan Johannson and then teammate Frank Biela.
While the works Audi’s waited in the pitlane and the Panoz team suffered mechanical and electronic gremlins with both their cars, it was the impressive Chrysler Oreca that set the early pace. The Ascari Team also had its problems with the number 4 car not taking any part of the session, sidelined with engine problems. The number 3 car came back into the pits after only one lap after suffering a driveshaft failure. The team worked hard and the car re-emerged from the garage after only ten minutes. Stefan Johannson took provisional pole position after ten minutes, which he held until the works Audi’s emerged half way through the session.
Kristensen took provisional pole with ten minutes remaining, but three minutes later he was demote by Frank Biela in the second Audi. Kristensen pushed harder and regained the front of the grid, securing another all Audi front row. As Johansson took the chequered flag, just failing to improve his 2nd row grid position, he put the cars tyres on the rumble strip on the exit of Redgate, sliding the car onto the grass. The ended up in the tyre wall at the top of the Craner Curves with heavy front end damage. Johansson was unharmed in the incident.
Once again the Chrysler Oreca was the fastest non Audi, but Olivier Beretta was disappointed not to be ahead of at least one of the Audi’s after being so close all weekend.
The Rowan Racing Pilbeam MP484 got the better of the Dick Barbour Racing Reynard in the smaller LMP675 class. The two cars swapped times for most of the session but it was the Pilbeam which posted the fastest time of session.
DONNINGTON LMP675 QUALIFYING
Donington Park - LMP675 QUALIFYING 30 minutes
1 21 O’Connell/Carway Pilbeam MP484 1:27.971
2 5 Van de Poele/ De Radigues Reynard 1:29.030
Qualifying for GTS & GT Classes 30 Minutes
GTS Class
The Saleen S7R of Oliver Gavin took the GTS pole position after leading the session from the opening lap. The RML Saleen was unable to put any pressure on the Konrad Motorsport car and at the end of the thirty minutes posted a time 3.189 seconds slower.
Oliver Gavin said, t’s a shame there is much competition in the class to get a better comparison before Le Mans. Having said that we tried hard and I’m very happy with the car. We suffered from a bit of oversteer after four or five laps but apart from that the car ran well.”
Fredrik Ekblom took pole position for BMW Motorsport in a session that was frustrating as well as inspiring for the team. Ekblom’s teammate failed to appear when the second BMW M3 GTR failed to appear on the track. The number 42 car of JJ Lehto and Jorg Muller had suffered an unexplained failure and wouldn’t be taking any part in the qualifying session. However the team is confident of repairing the car in time for it to take to the back of the grid in tomorrows race. The Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3’s provided the main opposition to Ekblom, but couldn’t overhaul the BMW before the chequered flag.
Fredrik Ekblom wasn’t complacent when asked about his chances of winning tomorrow’s race. The car is good and is great fun to drive. The Porsche’s have better fuel economy than we do and that is our weak point and it is their strong point. We will probably have to make one more stop than they will, even though we are faster.”
Created and Designed by Joe Favata
