Paul Ricard ELMS: Oliver Turvey secures pole for Jota Zytek
Jota Zytek driver Oliver Turvey took his fourth European Le Mans Series pole position of the season at Paul Ricard
Turvey claimed pole and the single championship point that comes with it aboard his Zytek-Nissan Z11SN after a fierce battle with Brendon Hartley in the Murphy Prototypes ORECA.
A best lap of 1m48.043s put the Jota car almost exactly one tenth ahead of Hartley's ORECA-Nissan 03, although Turvey posted two laps good enough for the pole.
Turvey, who shares the Jota Zytek with Simon Dolan, said: "Brendon and I were trading fastest times. I was only four hundredths ahead at one point, but I really wanted it and was able to go a little bit faster."
The two entries that go into Saturday afternoon's three-hour ELMS finale equal on points share the second row.
TDS Racing ORECA-Nissan driver Mathias Beche pipped Nelson Panciatici in the Alpine-liveried Signatech version by just two tenths of a second to take third position.
Matt Griffin took GTE pole position for the Ram Racing Ferrari squad after edging out Andrea Bertolini in the JMW Ferrari by just one tenth of a second.
Mika Salo was fastest in the GTC class for GT3 machinery aboard the best of the SMP Racing Ferraris, while Paul-Loup Chatin topped the times in the one-make LMPC prototype division.
Pos Cat Drivers Team/Car Time 1. P2 Dolan/Turvey Jota Zytek-Nissan 1m48.043s 2. P2 Hartley/Hirschi Murphy ORECA-Nissan 1m48.140s 3. P2 Thiriet/Beche TDS ORECA-Nissan 1m48.974s 4. P2 Ragues/Panciatici Signatech Alpine-Nissan 1m49.102s 5. P2 Gachnang/Klien Morand Morgan-Judd 1m49.148s 6. P2 Hartshorne/Kapadia/Al-Mudhaf Boutsen ORECA-Nissan 1m49.360s 7. P2 Frey/Niederhauser Race Peformance ORECA-Judd 1m50.918s 8. P2 Mediani/Zlobin Oreca-Nissan 1m51.031s 9. PC Chatin/Hirsch Endurance FLM 1m52.052s 10. PC Pons/Ayari Endurance FLM 1m54.611s 11. GTE Mowlem/Griffin Ram Ferrari 1m55.374s 12. GTE Bertolini/Camathias JMW Ferrari 1m55.427s 13. GTE Perazzini/Cioci/Leo AF Ferrari 1m55.879s 14. GTE Jeannette/Montecalvo Ram Ferrari 1m56.132s 15. GTE Ried/Bachler/Tandy Proton Porsche 1m56.390s 16. GTC Salo/Rotenberg/Ladygin SMP/Ferrari 1m57.012s 17. GTC Babini/Shaitar/Ladygin SMP Ferrari 1m57.038s 18. GTE Milesi/Vernay IMSA Porsche 1m57.212s 19. GTE Perrodo/Collard Prospeed Porsche 1m57.847s 20. GTC Hiesse/Mezard Villorba Ferrari 1m57.866s 21. GTC Markozov/Persiani/Frolov SMP Ferrari 1m57.952s 22. GTC Rizzoli/Gai/Case AF Ferrari 1m58.097s 23. GTC Kox/Pronk/Retera Kox Lamborghini 1m58.185s 24. GTE Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank AF Ferrari 1m58.381s 25. GTC Millroy/McCaig/Twyman Ecosse BMW 1m58.944s 26. GTC Accary/Lecuyer/Enjalbert DKR BMW 2m00.273s
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