Milesi tops qualifying at 4 Hours of Imola

ELMS

Jul 6

Third round of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) championship at Imola with the traditional format of a 4 hours race this Sunday. Today saw the second free practice session at 10:05 am and four qualifying sessions (one per class) from 2:35 pm onwards. Two drivers won their third consecutive class pole: Bovy in LMGT3 and Roda in LMP2 Pro-Am. In LMP2, it is a different team than the two previous rounds in Barcelona and Le Castellet as well as in LMP3.

Panis Racing in pole for the 4 Hours of Imola

Charles Milesi confirmed his fastest lap during practices by clinching pole during LMP2 qualifying session of the 4 Hours of Imola with #65 Panis Racing Oreca. Milesi was the only driver under the 1:31 mark during practices in 1:30.885. The French driver was even able to improve that fastest lap in 1:30.829 during the qualifying session.

📷 Courtesy of European Le Mans Series. #65 Panis Racing Oreca.

“It’s amazing, we knew we had good pace on Thursday during the test. We were confident and Charles did a really good job to take pole. It’s a good starting point for the weekend,” said Arthur Leclerc, who shares the #65 with Milesi.

Alex Lynn in the #25 APR ORECA was 0.132 sec. short from pole as his best lap was a 1:30.961. Being second, Lynn’ll still start from first row.

#25 Algarve pro Racing Oreca — 📷 Courtesy of European Le Mans Series. #25 APR Oreca.

Felipe Drugovic in #10 Vector Sport Oreca ended up third with 1:30.988 making him the third and final driver under the 1:31 mark.

📷 Courtesy of European Le Mans Series. #10 Vector Sport 0reca.

Roda in pole in LMP2 Pro-AM

Proton Competition Oreca #77 will start from pole of LMP2 Pro-AM thanks to its Bronze driver Giorgio Roda who was more than half second faster than Rodrigo Sales driving current championship leading #29 Richard Mille By TDS during the class qualifying session. It is the third pole position win in a row for Roda with the #77 Oreca.

📷 Courtesy of European Le Mans Series.

“Three pole positions in three attempts is good. The car is getting better every race and the team is improving every time. We are getting close to perfection,” a jubilant Roda said. “I had to work to avoid track limits and gravel on the track, but it was a good final lap in the end.”

#77 Proton Competition team is eager to win its first race at Imola but it’ll be tough as both Gold drivers of #29 Richard Mille By TDS are faster: Grégoire Saucy (#29) was 0.613 sec. faster than Bent Viscaal (#77) and Mathias Beche (#29) was 0,954 sec. faster than Rene Binder (#27) during practices.

Both Duqueine M30-D08 in LMP3 front row

The #4 DKR Engineering was the fastest of LMP3s, 0.243 sec. ahead of sister car #12 WTM By Rinaldi. The first Ligier JS P320 (#15 RLR) was 0.788 sec. slower than the class pole.

📷 Courtesy of European Le Mans Series. Wyatt Brichacek with #4 DKR Engineering.

Third pole for Bovy in LMGT3

As for LMP2 Pro-Am, the LMGT3 class saw the Bronze drivers running for pole in their class. Sarah Bovy was again the faster in the exercise with #83 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R in 1:43.349.

📷 Courtesy of European Le Mans Series.

SARAH BOVY: “I’m super happy to be back in pole position in ELMS. Every little point we can score is going to be important for our championship and personally, it feels great to confirm that I am fit to drive the car fast. I can’t wait to be at the start tomorrow with Michelle [Gatting] and Rahel [Frey] to try and go after the good result we have been chasing for too long.” Source: Iron Dames

As her teammate Michele Gatting said after the session, it’ll be a difficult race for the Iron Dames as the gap with other Bronze drivers is less than 0.212 sec. between the top three. Bovy’s co-drivers were slower than the #59 Gold drivers: Valentin Hasse Clot (#59) was 0.526 sec. faster than Gatting (#83) in their fastest lap during practice and Casper Stevenson (#59) more than a second faster than Rahel Frey (#83) in their practice’s fastest lap. Considering there should be several cautions during the race, the Iron Dames’s chances for a win are not at the highest.