Peugeot's Pagenaud takes Spa pole

Pagenaud, who is Peugeot Sport's reserve driver from next month's Le Mans 24 Hours, edged out team-mate Alex Wurz during qualifying for the second round of the Le Mans Series in Belgium.

The Acura American Le Mans Series driver's best time of 2m01.056s was just 0.03 seconds quicker than his more experienced team-mate at the end of a session interrupted by two red flags.

Pagenaud, who only drove the turbo-diesel Peugeot for the first time the week before last, said: "I managed to get a clean lap and then came a red flag. Fortunately, we had enough of a gap to stay in the pits."

Asked if Peugeot was sandbagging, Pagenaud said: "It was qualifying. I'm employed to do my best; I was going as fast as I could."

Darren Turner was the best of the petrol-engined contingent aboard the #009 Lola-Aston Martin. His time was nearly a second and a half off Pagenaud's pole.

The second Aston Martin suffered a mechanical problem before it could set a time. Round one pole-sitter Strakka will also start at the back - Danny Watts having spun and flat-spotted his tyres at La Source on his first lap, possibly due to fluids split from the ailing #007 Aston.

Casper Elgaard topped the LMP2 times in the Essex Porsche RS Spyder with a time half a second quicker than Xavier Pompidou's Lola-Judd.

Qualifying honours in GT1 went to the Jetalliance Aston Martin team. Alex Muller was nearly a second ahead of Peter Kox in the Reiter-run Lamborghini Murcielago.

Factory Porsche drivers Marc Lieb and Patrick Pilet locked out the top positions in GT2 in their respective Felbermayr Proton and IMSA Performance 911 GT3-RSRs. Jaime Melo was the best Ferrari driver in the Team Modena entry in third position.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                       Car                   Time
 1.  P1   Minassian/Pagenaud/Klien      Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP   2m01.056s
 2.  P1   Gene/Wurz/Brabham             Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP   2m01.082s
 3.  P1   Primat/Ramos/Turner           Lola Aston Martin     2m02.488s
 4.  P1   Ortelli/Senna                 Oreca AIM             2m02.570s
 5.  P1   Boullion/Tinseau              Pescarolo Judd        2m02.948s
 6.  P1   Jouanny/Barbosa               Pescarolo Judd        2m04.390s
 7.  P1   Ragues/Mailleux               Oreca Judd            2m04.614s
 8.  P1   Kerr/Smith/Tomlinson          Ginetta Zytek         2m04.880s
 9.  P1   Albers/Bakkerud/Mondini       Audi R10 TDI          2m07.908s
10.  P2   Elgaard/Collard/Poulsen       Porsche RS Spider     2m07.918s
11.  P2   Amaral/Pla                    Ginetta Zytek         2m08.962s
12.  P2   Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter          Zytek                 2m09.326s
13.  P2   Barazi/Rees                   Zytek 07S             2m09.662s
14.  P2   Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou     Lola Judd             2m09.796s
15.  P1   Karthikeyan/Meyrick/Zwolsman  Audi R10 TDI          2m09.966s
16.  P2   Lahaye/Ajlani                 Pescarolo Mazda       2m11.244s
17.  P2   Biagi/Bobbi/Piccini           Lola Judd             2m11.466s
18.  P2   Salini/Salini/Gommendy        WR Zytek              2m13.102s
19.  P2   Noda/Sini/Marsh               Lola Mazda            2m13.348s
20.  P2   Comblot/Cortes/Montserrat     Lucchini Judd         2m15.878s
21.  P2   Schell/Thirion                Courage AER           2m17.026s
22.  GT1  Lichtnerhoyer/Gruber/Muller   Aston Martin DBR9     2m17.344s
23.  P2   Nicolet/Hein                  Pescarolo Mazda       2m18.114s
24.  GT1  Salaquarda/Kox/Janis          Lamborghini           2m18.242s
25.  P1   Lavaggi/Kaufmann              Lavaggi AER           2m19.214s
26.  GT1  Alphand/Goueslard/Clairay     Corvette C6.R         2m19.680s
27.  P1   Panis/Lapierre                Oreca AIM             2m21.146s
28.  GT2  Lieb/Lietz/Felbermayr Sr      Porsche 997 GT3 RS    2m21.870s
29.  GT2  Pilet/Narac                   Porsche 997 GT3 RS    2m22.012s
30.  GT2  Garcia/Mansell/Melo           Ferrari F430 GT       2m22.698s
31.  P2   Ceccato/Francioni/Piccini     Lola Judd             2m22.858s
32.  GT2  Bell/Bruni                    Ferrari F430 GT       2m23.148s
33.  GT2  Simonsen/Kaffer               Ferrari F430 GT       2m23.232s
34.  GT2  Rosa/Montermini/Petrobelli    Ferrari F430 GT       2m23.656s
35.  GT2  Cocker/Drayson                Aston Martin Vantage  2m23.694s
36.  GT2  Ehret/Farnbacher              Ferrari F430 GT       2m23.758s
37.  P2   Randaccio/Solieri             Lucchini McLaren      2m24.292s
38.  GT2  Coronel/Dumbreck              Spyker C8 Laviolet    2m25.088s
39.  GT2  Palttala/Daniels              Porsche 997 GT3 RS    2m26.260s
40.  GT2  Griffin/Bamford               Ferrari F430 GT       2m26.448s
41.  GT2  McInerney/McInerney/Vergers   Ferrari F430 GT       2m26.892s
42.  GT2  Tenchini/Basso/Plati          Ferrari F430 GT       2m27.024s
43.  GT2  Ried/Felbermayr Jr/Martins    Porsche 997 GT3 RS    2m27.672s
44.  GT2  Hartshorne/Rodrigues/Kralev   Ferrari F430 GT       2m27.926s
45.  P2   Ibanez/Da Rocha/Cavailhes     Courage AER           2m29.080s
46.  P1   Belicchi/Fassler/Prost        Lola Aston Martin     2m36.504s
47.  P2   Bruneau/Greaves/Coleman       Radical AER           3m37.296s
48.  P1   Watts/Leventis/Hardman        Ginetta Zytek         3m55.058s