Close qualifying at Monza

The European Le Mans Series had an ultra close qualifying session ahead of the 4 hours of Monza.

Six cars were entered for the GTE category, but only five made it onto the track during the Qualifying. JMW Motorsport Ferrari #66 had an accident during practice, and the mechanics were still busy rebuilding the car when the others drove onto the circuit.

Ebimotors #80 took Pole Position at their home circuit, with Proton Competition #88 making it a Porsche 1-2, ahead of the first Ferrari in the shape of Spirit of Race #55, in front of Krohn Racing Ferrari #83 and Proton Competition Porsche #77.

There was only 0,081 of a second between the first three cars, so all cars matched each other very well.

Ebimotors #80
Photo: JJ Media

Then it was time for LMP3 qualifying.

The positions were changing by every lap, and there hardly was any car in the field, which didn’t have first position at some point during the session.

It ended up with a Norma 1-2 with Ultimate #17, ahead of M.Racing – YMR #19, before United Autosports #2 was the first Ligier in P3.

AT Racing #9 was initially P3 on the grid, but their ride height was too low, so they were disqualified and have to start tomorrow’s race from dead last.

Ultimate #17
Photo: JJ Media

Last but not least it was LMP2 qualifying.

DragonSpeed #21 had a much better day, after their dramatic Spa FIA WEC race last weekend. They grabbed Pole Position ahead of Duqueine Engineering #29 and G-Drive Racing #26. United Autosports #22 was the first Ligier in the field, behind three ORECAs, while AVF by Adrian Valles #30 was the best Dallara in P5.

TDS Racing #33 had initially taken Pole Position, but they got all their cars disallowed due to taping up all the gaps in the bodywork, to minimize the drag – and that isn’t legal in the ELMS.

APR – Rebellion Racing #31 also lost all their times due to too long ride height.

 

DragonSpeed #21
Photo: JJ Media

There were two red flags during the LMP2 session. The first was for gravel on the track after Olivier Pla in the Racing Engineering #24 had a trip through the gravel in the first chicane.

The other red flag was due to Ate de Jong leaving the track in the Algarve Pro Racing #25 on his final flying lap. The car ended up in the tire barrier in the Parabolica, but it’s good to go for the race tomorrow.

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